


to be loved and to be in love

by breastlumps, suspendrs



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Birthday Sex, Blow Jobs, Christmas, Christmas Party, Damn, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Holidays, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Marriage Proposal, New Years, Parties, Rimming, Same-Sex Marriage, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Year Long Fic, too many of them tbqh, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 14:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breastlumps/pseuds/breastlumps, https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspendrs/pseuds/suspendrs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>The tiny microphone picks up the sound of rustling sheets behind him, and Harry’s smile changes to a confused frown as he looks back, camera still in place. His face, only visible in profile now, visibly softens, and when he turns back around it’s to prop the camera up on the side table to catch the moment. There’s a smaller figure curled up on the other side of the bed, fluffy brown hair sticking out from where the blanket is pulled up over their face. Harry rolls back over and pulls the blanket down a bit, and big blue eyes squint up at him in the sudden light.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Harry and Louis' first year as a couple, as captured by snippets of home movies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to be loved and to be in love

**Author's Note:**

> this fic took a lot of work and planning but it was really a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy ! x  
> (reposted)

**January 1 // 11:36 AM**

 

It starts with nothing but bright white, a soft rustling of sheets. There’s the sound of a breath and the rest of the world is silent, and then the camera switches around and there’s nothing but Harry. He’s on his side in an unfamiliar bed, bare chest, messy hair and sleepy eyes all visible to the little lens of his iPhone.

“Happy New Year,” he whispers to the camera, afraid to break the silence. Everything past around midnight is a blur in his memory, but he made his resolution long before that. “This year, my New Years resolution is to remember everything, and to make things matter, starting today. I’m going to record absolutely everything I can, and when this year ends I’ll still have it all on tape, so I can remember it forever,” he explains, his dimple carving into his cheek when he smiles.

The tiny microphone picks up the sound of rustling sheets behind him, and Harry’s smile changes to a confused frown as he looks back, camera still in place. His face, only visible in profile now, visibly softens, and when he turns back around it’s to prop the camera up on the side table to catch the moment. There’s a smaller figure curled up on the other side of the bed, fluffy brown hair sticking out from where the blanket is pulled up over their face. Harry rolls back over and pulls the blanket down a bit, and big blue eyes squint up at him in the sudden light.

“Who were you talking to?” Louis’ sleepy, scratchy voice says.

“No one. Myself,” Harry answers truthfully, his back to the camera now as he lays on his other side, facing Louis.

Louis hums and stretches, his face pinching up slightly as he does. “Oh, ouch,” he breathes out, one hand disappearing under the covers to rub at his lower back. His eyes widen slightly and Harry’s face still isn’t visible, but the camera catches him when he tenses up.

“Did we…” Louis trails off, looking up at Harry. His face is clearly visible to the camera in the space between Harry’s shoulder and his head where it’s propped up by his other hand, and he looks both nervous and slightly hopeful.

“I don’t remember,” Harry says, sitting up now. The blanket slides off enough to reveal his completely naked backside to the camera, and Louis presses his lips together. “But it seems like a definite possibility,” Harry continues, his voice light and almost cheery.

Louis lets out a quiet laugh, rolling onto his back and stretching out again. “I’m honestly surprised this didn’t happen sooner,” he admits, leaving his arms stretched up over his head, tattooed chest visible to the camera now.

“For what reason?” Harry asks. Only a sliver of the side of his face is visible but the camera still catches the flutter of his eyelashes, like his gaze is sweeping over what he can see of Louis’ skin.

“We’ve been roommates since freshman year, and have gotten drunk together almost every weekend since,” Louis chuckles. The smug expression on his face can only mean that he knows that Harry can’t stop looking at him, but he doesn’t move an inch. “And I’ve honestly been pretty attracted to you all that time,” he says. His voice is a little quieter now, the smugness replaced with what might be nervousness with that secret out in the open now.

“Really?” Harry asks, the hope in his tone picked up even by the phone camera.

“Really,” Louis confirms. He seems a bit more vulnerable now but he leaves his arms stretched up above his head, entire upper body on display, the picture of confidence.

Harry shifts a little closer to Louis, camera obviously forgotten on the table behind him. “Me too. Attracted to you, that is. Never thought it would happen though,” Harry admits.

“Me either. And people always think we’re a thing when we’re out together, I wonder why it’s taken us so long to figure it out,” Louis laughs, reaching up to bring Harry closer with his arms around his neck.

“Can we? Like, be a thing? Can we be a thing together?” Harry stumbles out. Louis laughs brightly, back arching up a little when he throws his head back.

“I’d love to.”

Harry starts to lean in for a kiss, Louis’ arms tightening around his neck and dragging him down. Harry’s phone beeps from the table, alerting him that he’s running out of space, and the two boys jump apart.

“What was that?” Louis asks, sitting up while Harry scrambles over to pick up the phone.

“Remember how I told you that my new years resolution was to start recording everything?” He says, aiming the camera up at Louis’ confused face.

“You’re telling me you just got all of that on video?” Louis deadpans, unamused.

“Not on purpose!” Harry laughs, allowing Louis to reach over and snatch the phone from his hands.

“Well this is the end of today’s video,” Louis hums, letting the camera get a very close shot of his face before he turns it around, filming Harry grinning and running his hand through his hair. Louis ends the video when Harry starts crawling closer, and the phone gets thrown somewhere and forgotten for another few hours.

 

**January 8 // 2:42 PM**

 

Harry’s got the camera pointed in Louis’ direction as they sit on the couch, huddled together in their sweaters and knit socks, the television lit with the characters of Louis’ favorite show. He has his arm around Louis’ shoulder, Louis’ face pressed in the dip of Harry’s neck. They’re sitting comfortably until the program breaks for commercial and Louis rises slowly, arching his back and making it pop and crack.

“Lou, you look thick,” Harry points out, dimples in his cheeks. Only Louis’ arse and legs are in the shot, and then Harry’s hand comes into view to slap it gently.

Louis blushes, hitting Harry’s hand away. “At least take me on a date first," he jokes, turning around to glare at Harry.

The hand on his arse grabs at his hip, making him trip over his own feet and topple onto Harry. Harry has a shit eating smirk on his lips when he hums, nose bumping Louis' cheek.

He kisses him chastely on the lips. "You'd like that, yeah? Wanna go on a date?"

The camera catches the way Louis' cheeks flush, but it doesn't see Harry’s hand creeping up the swell of his arse and under his shirt. It catches the way his eyelashes flutter when they lock lips again, but not how fast his heart rattles in the confines of his ribs.

He nods, lips parted, tiny hands tangled in the collar of Harry's shirt. "Wanna go on a date."

He feels more like a teenager than a 24 year old student who is five months away from graduation when Harry gets him to talk like that, breathless and high strung just from a little kissing.

Harry tucks his bottom lip in between his teeth, remnants of his smile remaining at the corner of his lips while his eyes rake over Louis' face, eyes quickly analyzing his features.

"Wanna go skating? I know you like that, yeah? Maybe a movie, whaddya say, babe?"

Louis bites the skin of his thumb in thought, eyes glancing to the camera where Harry's hand is wrapped around it tightly, before he looks back at him.

"Wanna go to a fancy restaurant," Louis grins coyly and Harry raises his eyebrows.

He hums, "Really now? Some fancy shmancy place is what you want?"

"Mhm, the fanciest." Louis bites the inside of his cheek.

Harry smiles, rubbing Louis’ bare side under his shirt. "You're a spoiled boy." Louis buries his face in Harry's chest, his fist balled in Harry's shirt, the camera recording the pink flowing up Louis' face. He looks up at Harry and pecks the corner of his mouth, his boyfriend smiling gently before looking at the phone and shutting the video off completely.

 

**January 10 // 5:56 PM**

 

Louis adjusts the phone from his lap to Harry’s face, filming him while he drives. Harry has one hand on the wheel and the other resting on his own thigh, lips already quirked up in the beginning of a smile under the watch of the camera.

“Where are we going, Harry?” Louis asks from behind the camera, his own smile evident in his voice. Harry grins and glances over at him, winking at the camera.

“It’s a surprise,” he hums, eyes trained back on the road but his attention obviously still on Louis, always on Louis.

Louis turns the camera around to show how unimpressed he looks, before swinging it back to look at Harry.

“My boy wanted fancy, so my boy is getting fancy. And what I want is to surprise you, so let me have it,” Harry says, his words accompanied by a small laugh.

Louis sighs from behind the camera and plops back against his seat, turning the camera around to face himself again. He stares out the window and mocks Harry under his breath, but still loud enough to be heard, until finally they pull into a parking lot.

The camera captures the way Louis’ jaw drops and his eyes widen, looking up at the sign of the restaurant. It captures the quiet sound of Harry’s laugh from the outside of the car, and then it captures the way the light spills over Louis’ face when Harry opens the car door for him to get out.

Harry takes the camera from Louis as they walk up to the front door, aiming it down to view the way Harry reaches out and takes Louis’ hand with his free one. He aims it back up to watch Louis step up to the front desk, and then records the walk from the front of the restaurant to the back where their reserved table is.

“I can’t believe you made a reservation at Rosso just because I asked for fancy,” Louis says when they sit down, voice hushed but quick. The camera catches the way his eyes are lit up, and the way the skin beside them crinkles just slightly when he smiles over at Harry.

“Like I said, you want fancy, I’ll give you fancy,” comes Harry’s voice from behind the camera. Louis laughs softly at him and then leans across the small table to kiss him, and Harry lets it catch the soft press of their lips together before he taps the button to turn it off.

 

**January 10 // 8:12 PM**

 

Harry’s laughter is the first thing the camera picks up on, as well as Louis with slightly pinker cheeks and bluer eyes than the last time. He’s clearly had a bit too much to drink and Harry is obviously enjoying it a bit too much, recording Louis as he stumbles out of the booth and latches onto Harry’s arm. Louis is giggling incessantly at absolutely nothing, digging his face into Harry’s bicep and trusting Harry to lead him all the way out to the car. He slips on a piece of black ice only once, making his grip on the muscle tighten impossibly yet he never stops laughing.

They make it to the car safely, Harry handing over the phone to Louis who gladly takes it and starts making faces to himself as his boyfriend watches with fond eyes. Harry turns the keys and starts the car and Louis mimics the sound with wet lips, causing little drops of spit to flick out onto the lense.

Louis turns to look at Harry with an open mouth and crinkles by his eyes, a loud cackling laugh coming from his throat.

"What're you doing, spitting all over my stuff?" Harry asks playfully, stopping at the light. Louis flicks the camera to Harry who's lit in red, the shadow of his nose cascading over his lips while Louis laughs brightly in the background. It gets quiet and even though Louis' drunk he still understands the concept of beauty, and how beautiful Harry actually is. The camera can record a bigger picture but it can't focus on how Harry's eyes are shining from the street lamp, or how his cheeks are a bit pink even in the darkness of the car just from two drinks and a little love.

Harry's eyes soften he leans in for a quick kiss behind the camera, before the light turns green and they're going home again.

 

**January 15 // 4:01 PM**

 

Louis has a smile on his face when he opens the camera to start recording, white onesie zipped up to his chest and hood over his brown hair. A dull thump sounds in the background and he shakes his head, smile widening.

"Harry's outside pelting snowballs," he announces, turning the view away from him to the window. Harry's outside in his brown vest and white flannel, rolling up a snowball in his bare hands. His warm breath is visible through the glass as he winds up and throws another one landing right in front of the lense.

"What he doesn't realize is that there's a door in the way and windows, and he can't get to me." He smiles, biting his lip as he goes to open the door just when Harry throws one right next to his head.

Louis gasps and Harry cackles in the distance, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry, Lou!"

"Well, don't think you're coming in now!" He closes the door and locks it until Harry gets up to it and starts jiggling the handle. Harry obviously doesn’t see that Louis unlocks the door when Harry moves to look through the glass.

Harry wipes at the window with his sleeve. "It's really cold out here, baby, let me back in please," he begs, pressing his pouting face against the glass.

"I don't know, Harry." Louis crosses his arms with Harry still in the view of the camera. Harry opens his mouth and lets out what hot air he can, writing little letters in the condensation it leaves on the window.

 

Louis smiles and starts walking away from the scene, while Harry bangs on the window with a pout on his face, trying the door again. This time it swings open, and Harry's all out of breath as he comes inside. Louis picks up his pace in the opposite direction, running with the camera pointed at the floor until Harry comes up behind him and wraps his arms around his waist, spinning him around. The phone slips out of his hand and lands on a nearby rug safely, looking at the ceiling.

There’s a thud near to the phone and then Louis’ bright laughter, a bit of unidentified scuffling beneath the sound. When Louis picks up the phone again he aims it at Harry, who has him pinned down on the floor and is sitting on top of him.

“It’s cold out there,” Harry huffs, ignoring the camera in favor of staring down at Louis, his lips blue from the cold but his eyes showing nothing but warmth. “Think you owe me a good long cuddle to make up for locking me out there.”

“You were locked out for fifteen seconds!” Louis argues, giggling manically from behind the camera when Harry digs a finger into his side to tickle him.

“Fifteen seconds too long,” Harry grumbles, ducking down to bury his face in the side of Louis’ neck. Louis adjusts the camera so that they’re both in the shot now, rolling his eyes fondly.

“You nearly killed me with that snowball,” he reminds, getting a mouthful of Harry’s curly hair as soon as he opens his mouth to speak.

“It wouldn’t have killed you,” Harry mumbles back, squirming a bit until he gets comfy, squashing the life out of Louis on the floor. “If anything, it would have mildly injured you, and I would’ve nursed you back to health immediately,” he says, and the camera can’t see it, but Louis feels him smile against his neck.

“Oh yeah? And how would you have done that?” Louis hums, eyes locked on the camera with a small smirk on his lips.

“Something like this, I reckon,” Harry sighs, pulling away from Louis’ neck and sitting up. He winks at the camera before slithering down Louis’ body, reaching up to unzip his onsie to right below where he needs it. Louis keeps the camera trained on him until Harry reaches up to cover the lense with his hand, and the video promptly ends.

 

**January 28 // 8:03 AM**

 

Harry aims the camera at Louis, who is sitting at the small kitchen table in a big sweater eating breakfast with hooded eyes. Louis looks up at him and lets out a long breath through his nose, chewing his bite of toast slowly.

“Contain your excitement, Lou,” Harry chuckles, sitting down across from him at the table and keeping the camera right on him.

“Hard to be excited for anything at the asscrack of dawn,” Louis mutters, blinking slowly and taking another bite of his toast.

“It’s eight o’clock in the morning!” Harry exclaims, laughing brightly when Louis just glares at him.

“My point exactly,” Louis grumbles, and Harry snorts another laugh as he turns the camera around to face himself.

“We’re leaving for our ski trip today,” he tells the camera happily, eyes bright and cheeks rosy from the slight chill in their apartment this morning. “And Louis is upset that he had to wake up so early, and that I didn’t have time to make him a big breakfast. But we’ve got to leave in,” he checks his wristwatch, “about ten minutes if we ever wanna get there, so you’ve got to hurry up, buttercup.”

Louis glares at him again and then goes back to his toast, taking the last few bites with excruciatingly little speed. He puts his plate in the sink when he’s finally done and then snatches the camera away from Harry, filming himself as he walks to the front door.

“Classes are canceled for the rest of the week because of all the snow so, naturally, Harry thought it would be a good idea to take a three hour drive into the fucking mountains for a ski trip,” he says, though his voice sounds more fond of the boy he’s trashing than anything.

“You’re excited, Lewis, don’t lie,” Harry’s voice rings in the background, making Louis roll his eyes as he bends over to get his shoes on.

“Yeah, alright. Maybe I am a bit excited,” he whispers to the camera, sticking his tongue out at it and smiling before pressing the button to end the video.

 

**January 28 // 12:21 PM**

 

"Okay, so we're in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere," Louis opens up, eyes searching the surroundings. The windshield has snowflakes covering it because they've been parked on some trail for about 15 minutes, and Harry hasn't turned on the wipers yet. He tilts the camera a bit to show Harry hunched over looking at a map.

"Appreciate your surroundings," Harry mutters under his breath, finger tracing their track.

Louis grins. "What's that, mumbles?"

Harry snaps his head up and glares at him for a short moment before going back to his map.

"Should've used a GPS." Louis looks at the phone, shrugging before it goes black.

 

**January 28 // 1:34 PM**

 

Harry's mouth is close to the camera and pulled into a smile.

"We made it!" He cheers, and Louis' quiet 'woo’ in the background doesn't go unnoticed. He turns the phone to show Louis doing a little dance, his own smile at the top of the screen.

They’ve just gotten out of the car, still in the parking lot of the hotel. Louis bounces closer and snatches the phone, turning it around to face Harry while he backs away.

“Right, well I’ve got your phone, so you get the rest of the luggage and I’ll go check us in,” he says. Harry nods in agreement but then he frowns, and Louis takes off running before Harry can argue.

He lets the camera drop its aim to the floor while he walks up to the front desk of the hotel, giving his own name and receiving two room keys. He situates the camera better in his hand once he gets into the elevator, aiming it right at his face and talking to it once the doors close.

“Poor Harry doesn’t even know what room we’re in, and I have both keys. I suppose I’ll have to go help him, won’t I,” he sighs, looking pained at the idea of carrying any of their luggage. He keeps the camera aimed at his face as he treks down the hallway, letting it get a good view up his nose, mumbling the room number over and over to himself until he finds it.

“Aha!” He grins, sliding the key card through the door handle until the light turns green, signalling that he can open it. He takes a running start from the door and launches himself on the bed, losing his grip on the camera as he goes tumbling down. The camera only records the blur of white bed sheets as it skims across the duvet and the tinkling sound of Louis’ laughter, until finally he picks it back up.

“Comfy bed, that’s a plus,” he hums, filming his own face as he pushes himself up and off the bed. “Let’s have a look at the view,” he says, bouncing over to the window and whipping the curtains open. “Ooh, look at that! I can see the whole mountain,” he gasps, turning the camera around to film the view. “This is sick. I wonder how good Harry is at skiing, because I want to do that trail there,” he decides, pointing out a clear cut trail that travels all the way down the mountain, starting almost right at the peak.

“It’s also quite snowy, should probably go help Harry with the bags now,” he sighs, turning away from the window. He jumps a little when he turns all the way around, the camera catching sight of a wet, snowy figure in the open doorway of the hotel room with about three suitcases in his arms.

“You fucker,” Harry grunts, dropping all of the bags onto the floor just inside the room and then kicking the door closed.

“I was literally about to come help you, I swear,” Louis giggles from behind the camera, as Harry stomps right over to him. “How did you even find the room?” He asks, keeping the camera pointed right at Harry.

“Asked the front desk if a small, brown haired man child with an iPhone and probably a shit eating grin had come through, and she told me which room right away,” Harry explains, narrowing his eyes at Louis playfully.

“She just told you the room number, no questions asked? Security’s a bit shit here, then. What was she thinking, you could’ve been coming to kill me!” He exclaims, but there’s laughter in his voice as Harry quirks an eyebrow.

“Could’ve been? Who says I’m not here to kill you?” Harry growls, grabbing Louis around the waist and tossing him back onto the bed. Louis shrieks a laugh and aims the camera up at Harry again once he gets his bearings, filming Harry as he crawls right on top of him.

“Have mercy on me,” he begs dramatically, and Harry grabs the phone away from him to film him instead. The camera switches around quickly and views Louis laying spread out on the bed, just the tops of Harry’s knees visible in the shot where he’s straddling Louis’ waist.

“Don’t think I will, actually,” Harry’s voice huffs, and the camera catches the way Louis’ cheeks grow pinker and his eyes grow darker just before the video stops.

 

**January 29 // 11:17 AM**

 

At first there’s just an aerial view of the ski slope, and then the camera turns around to show Harry and Louis, decked out in their ski gear, on their way up the mountain on the lift.

“First run of the trip!” Harry announces to the camera, grinning wide enough to show all of his teeth and throwing in a thumbs up with his free hand for good measure. “We’re starting off small today, but Lou wants to conquer the biggest trail before the day is done,” he says, looking a bit nervous about that.

“And we’re gonna do it, because Harry is not going to be a pussy for the first time in his life,” Louis adds, earning himself a flick on the ear from Harry.

“I’m never a pussy,” Harry argues, and Louis just laughs and looks away, checking out the scenery. “Oh, here, time to get off,” Harry says after a moment, and the camera shakes for a moment as the two of them push up and off of the ski lift once they reach the end.

Harry refocuses the camera once they’re on solid ground, turning it around to film his face again. “Excuse me, sir,” he asks someone, and then covers the microphone with his finger by accident so that the rest of the conversation is muted. A moment later the camera switches position and Harry is taking his skis off, walking over to stand under the big map of all the ski trails. Louis does the same and comes to stand next to him, holding his skis in hand proudly.

“It’s a video, so just hold it still for a few seconds and I’ll screenshot it later,” Harry tells whoever is holding the camera. They both hold their pose for a few moments, Harry with his bright orange snow pants and Louis with his jacket not even zipped up, and then the person holding the camera for them walks over to give it back.

“Thank you,” Harry calls after them, turning it around again to film himself, Louis putting his skis back on in the background. “So I guess we’re off down the mountain now, so I’m gonna put my phone away in case I wipe out,” he says, chuckling softly at himself. Louis waves at the camera from behind him and then he’s off down the slope, leaving Harry high and dry without his skis even back on.

“Hey!” He calls after him, but Louis is gone, so Harry just sighs and mumbles a bit to himself as he puts his skis back on, ending the video and setting off to catch up to his boyfriend.

 

**January 29 // 3:49 PM**

 

Louis starts the video with the camera aimed at Harry, who is just gazing nervously down the mountain, goggles pulled up over his helmet and gloves off so he can chew on the side of his finger.

“Haz, it’s gonna be fine. We’ll go slow, and stop at every bend,” he assures, the camera catching the nerves evident in Harry’s eyes when he looks up at the camera. Louis just laughs softly, pushing himself forward a bit so he’s next to Harry, turning the camera around to film them both.

“Harry’s a bit scared to try the biggest trail,” Louis explains, and Harry glares at him sideways. “But he told me earlier he’s not a pussy, and that’s on video, so he’s going to try anyway and everything is going to be okay,” he says, looking over at Harry with a small smile.

“I’m gonna fall,” Harry shrugs, like it’s inevitable, and Louis only laughs.

“You’ll be fine,” he says again, moving to position himself at the start of the trail. “I’ll go first, ready? And then you can follow me down,” he says, looking back at Harry once more before he turns the camera around to face the way he’s facing, setting off down the slope. He goes slow and comes to a stop where the slope turns slightly to the right, standing at the shoulder and turning around to watch Harry.

Harry starts out like a child, skis pointed in as much as they can be, inching down the slope as slowly as possible until he reaches Louis.

“See! That wasn’t so bad,” Louis cheers, clapping Harry on the back. “Next section, now,” he says, turning around and setting off. He makes it safely to the next curve in the trail, stopping at a safe spot and turning around to watch for Harry.

Harry has clearly gotten a bit too confident, going much faster this time than he did last time. Louis is able to see the panic in eyes as he goes whizzing by, not stopping at all.

“Shit,” Louis breathes, keeping the camera facing forward as he pushes off immediately down the slope, trying to catch up with Harry. He can hear Harry screaming all the way, and so can the camera, even though Harry is a good ten meters in front of him and the wind is whipping in his ears.

“Harry, stop!” Louis shouts, but Harry can’t hear him, picking up more and more speed and leaving Louis in the dust. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Louis mutters behind the camera, going as fast as he can without losing control. Once he gets to the last straightaway of the trail he finally sees Harry again, about the size of an ant on the phone camera.

“I think he’s going to make it,” Louis says in surprise, slowing down a bit and watching Harry, who is still going much too fast, but appears to be safely reaching the bottom of the mountain. Just then Harry goes over what must be the smallest of bumps and wipes out, losing both his skis and his helmet as soon as he hits the ground. “I was wrong,” Louis sighs, slowing down enough that he’ll be able to come to a safe stop next to where Harry is still sprawled out on his stomach in the snow.

“You okay?” Louis coos, stopping beside Harry’s body, and crouching down to try and get his face on video. Harry pulls his face out of the snow, looking up at Louis miserably, and Louis gasps.

“I told you I couldn’t do it,” he mumbles, pushing himself up slowly. Louis coos again, reaching out for him and wiping a trickle of blood from his lip with the back of his glove.

“You’re bleeding, love,” he says softly, standing up to get his own skis off. “Think that’s our cue to head back into the lodge.”

He treks a few feet up the slope to retrieve Harry’s skis and helmet, and then gathers his own. Harry picks himself up out of the snow and follows after him, taking the camera and filming himself.

“I knew it would end like this,” he tells the camera, voice muffled by his glove as his hand is pressed against his own mouth to stop the bleeding. They make it into the lodge and Louis drops all of their stuff at the table, helping Harry strip out of his coat and take his boots off before doing the same. He leads him into the bathroom next, and Harry keeps the camera on himself while Louis cleans him up a little.

“Well, you did really well for the first thirty seconds,” Louis admits, chuckling when Harry just glares at him.

“You’re buying dinner tonight to make up for this,” Harry grumbles. When Louis pulls the tissue away from his lip it’s no longer bleeding, but it will probably be swollen in the morning.

“Oh, like I wouldn’t be buying dinner tonight anyway,” Louis scoffs. Harry smiles at that, looking at the camera for a moment and then looking over at Louis.

“Kiss it better, at least?” He asks nicely, pursing his lips for Louis to kiss. Louis rolls his eyes but leans in, letting Harry drag his whole body closer as their lips meet. Harry peeks one eye open and winks at the camera, grabbing Louis’ ass out of shot and ending the video right as Louis squeaks in surprise.

 

**January 29 // 8:07 PM**

 

They’re back at the hotel now, relaxing in the hot tub, Harry aiming the camera at Louis as he rests his head back against the side, eyes closed and features relaxed. The jets are on and turned up all the way, bubbling over their chests and shoulders where they’re both slouched in the water, sitting on opposite sides of the tub.

“Look how beautiful he is,” Harry whispers to the camera, and over the sound of the jets working, the splashing water, and Louis’ soft humming to himself, he knows Louis can’t hear him. They’ll probably watch these videos back sometime in the future and Louis will hear it then, but for now Harry wants to keep it to himself. “I am so lucky. Even though he nearly killed me skiing earlier.” The camera can’t see, but Harry is smiling so fondly over at his boy. “I am so in love with him.”

Harry looks down after he says it, smiling at his lap under the water, so he doesn’t notice the way Louis’ cheeks heat up or the way he has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to suppress his smile. The camera notices, though; it catches the way Louis peeks one eye open and looks over at Harry, and it catches the way Louis’ eyes land on the lense next, and it certainly catches the way Louis mouths I love you too.

Louis puts his head back down before Harry looks up, and Harry lets out one more happy sigh before the video cuts out and the camera stops recording.

 

**January 30 // 9:03 AM**

 

Harry starts recording as soon as he turns the alarm off, looking over at his sleeping boyfriend on the other side of the bed. Louis has never been one to wake up right away, stirring and moaning for a few seconds before settling back down and going still. Harry sits up slowly and climbs out of bed, keeping the camera trained on Louis as he backs up.

“I’ve got a bit of a surprise planned for him this morning,” Harry whispers to the camera, turning it around to film himself. “Well, two surprises, I guess. First, I’m about to jump on him and give him the scare of his life to wake him up, and then once he’s done hissing at me, I’m gonna take him ice skating,” he hums, looking very proud of himself. “I know he loves ice skating, he’s told me before that he used to do it all the time as a little kid. I’ve got the coordination of a baby moose but the people at the front desk told me there’s a little pond just inside the woods next to this resort, and there are never too many people there but we can skate on it.”

He places the camera on Louis’ bedside table so it will record the whole scene, and then backs up to the end of it again. He gets a running start and then throws himself at Louis, landing spread eagle right on top of him and scaring him awake immediately.

Louis shrieks and tries to hit at Harry, but he’s trapped under his weight, so he resorts for just moaning loudly and wiggling in dismay. “What the fuck,” he mumbles, face squished into his pillow, while Harry just laughs.

“Wake up, wake up! I have a surprise for you!” Harry announces, too loudly for the moment, and Louis groans again and tries to shove him off. He fails, and Harry looks smug.

“Surprise me in about three more hours,” Louis grumbles, pressing his face into his pillow.

“Lou, it’s nine in the morning,” Harry points out. That’s as good as midday in his book, because the longer they sleep the more they’re going to miss out on.

“Exactly,” Louis hisses, finally turning his face out of the pillow to glare at Harry over his shoulder. Harry giggles again, leaning in to press a kiss to the tip of Louis’ nose.

“Up and at ‘em, sunshine,” he sings, finally crawling off of Louis and standing up. Louis tugs the covers right up over his head, holding them firmly in place when Harry tries to tug them off.

Harry sighs and moves to the end of the bed, sticking his hand under the duvet and finding Louis’ foot. He grabs it and presses his thumb against the arch of it, causing Louis to start thrashing around madly, giggling despite himself. Harry lets go and scoops Louis up before he can fight it, setting him down gently on his feet but keeping hold of him so he can’t get back into bed.

“C’mon, then. Into the shower with you,” Harry hums, tugging Louis out of shot and into the bathroom. He comes back for his phone once Louis has been safely deposited into the shower, getting his face in the frame and giving it a wink before he shuts it off.

 

**January 30 // 10:10 AM**

 

Louis’ blindfolded and Harry’s grinning like a fool.

“Take this off of me right now,” Louis demands, reaching up to take off Harry’s scarf.

“Would you just-” Harry starts, slapping his hand away from his face, “we’re almost there, Lou. Be patient.”

Louis sighs, following blindly after Harry for a few minutes more. Harry is holding the camera in one hand, recording them both as they walk the short path through the woods, with Louis' upper arm held firmly in his other hand to lead him. Louis is carrying the bag with the ice skates in, as Harry requested, but of course he has no idea the contents.

"Are we almost fucking there?" Louis snaps after about thirty seconds, but Harry doesn't answer him. Louis looks like he's ready to fight but then Harry stops them, aiming the camera right at Louis and pulling the scarf off of his eyes.

Louis blinks a few times as he adjusts to the light, looking up at Harry and then at the camera. "Okay, so what's the su-"

He cuts off when he sees the pond they're standing next to, looking down at the bag in his hands to see two pairs of ice skates inside, one a few sizes bigger than the other.

"We're going ice skating!" He squeals happily, dropping the bag and wrapping his arms around Harry's neck. "Oh, fuck you, I love ice skating."

Harry laughs softly and records Louis as he lets go, dropping right to the ground to pull his shoes off and put on the smaller pair of the skates. He's back up within seconds, walking awkwardly the few inches to the pond, and when he steps on the ice he glides easily right to the middle.

"C'mon," he calls to Harry, a big smile on his face, coming back to the edge to take the camera while Harry gets his skates on.

Harry gets on the ice, a few other people skating around the two of them, and immediately grabs on to Louis' arm, making Louis laugh.

"You're good, babe," he reassures, smiling.

Harry nods and lets go of his arm. "I'm good."

The camera stays focused on Harry while Louis skates backwards, cheering him on every buckle of the knees and slip on ice. Harry truly looks like a new horse stumbling about, but it's worse because he can't even walk on solid ground, and now he's on ice.

Harry eventually gets comfortable and more confident in his movements, beginning to blend in with the people around them. Louis does a full 360 slowly, filming the people around him holding hands, stumbling like his idiot boyfriend and doing some sort of tricks. Once he gets back to Harry, he's smiling wide and pointing to a couple that's spinning in the air.

"We could do that!" Harry exclaims motioning between them.

Louis shakes his head and the camera. "No. Absolutely not. I don't feel like dying today, Harry."

"But I'm perfectly capable of performing such a trick, watch this." He turns away from the camera and spins on one blade, unstable but landing on both of his feet. "See?" He smirks, skating closer.

"I don't kn-"

"Louis, please?"

"Fine!"

Harry laughs, clapping his hands together before going back to where he was just at.

"Ready?" he calls. Louis' hands shake the camera the slightest bit and he thinks he hears a cracking sound, but it's just his anxiety building up.

He breathes out slowly, "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

The camera visibly shakes as Harry gets closer, Louis praying under his breath behind it and when Harry finally comes to scoop him up off the ice, Louis decides that it's a great idea to try and take a step back, forgetting the fact that he's on ice and in skates, not shoes. His leg goes up in front him, hitting the blade of Harry's skate, knocking him down and Harry following suit, but he's quick to push Harry off and stumble off the pond, leaving the phone beside Harry, who's laying on his stomach, watching Louis pull off his skates and put on his shoes again.

He's up and going over to Louis, recording their feet while they talk.

"It's a pond!"

"If it wasn't stable they wouldn't let us on it, now would they?"

Louis' feet shuffle. "Suppose not," he mumbles.

The phone gets stuffed in his front pocket, now recording Louis' torso.

"Just wanted to have some fun, babe. Didn’t mean to hurt you or scare you," Harry says gently, pulling him into a hug. It's dark and Louis says something before he takes the phone out of Harry’s pocket, shutting it off.

 

**January 30 // 4:12 PM**

 

They’re back from the pond and have eaten a late lunch, and now Louis' face is in the camera.

"Harry said he feels bad about the pond so, being the lovely boyfriend he is, he treated us to lunch and offered to run us a bubble bath," Louis explains, teeth showing past his pink lips. "And who would I be to say no to that?"

He starts moving to the bathroom. It gets blurry and then Harry's hunched over the big tub, bottle of purple gel in his hand, presumably the stuff for the bubble making.

"Here he is, gentlemen and gentlewomen, one of the kindest people I know." He goes up to Harry's face, getting a closeup of the corner of his mouth and left dimple.

He turns his head, opening his mouth for the camera, getting a view of his tongue and back teeth. Louis brings the phone in and out of his mouth while making noises that could compare to a bad rave, Harry giggling quietly before he brings his hand up, taking the camera from Louis.

He turns it to Louis, who quickly shies away from it. Louis' always liked attention from everyone and anyone, Harry’s just his favorite giver. Harry's always wondered why he gets sheepish for photos or videos.

"Here's Louis, my precious little bean."

Louis laughs, cheeks pink. "Did you call me a bean?"

"Indeed, I did." The water turns off, making it silent, the phone trained on Louis. Harry shifts to his knees. "Bath's ready."

"Are you gonna record me taking my clothes off as well?" Louis jokes.

Harry shrugs, the camera following his movement. "I mean, if you...wanna. I won't mind it."

Louis purses his lips carefully, fingers playing with the hem of his gray shirt.

"Okay."

Tiny fingers grab under his shirt and pull up, the golden skin of his torso exposed and his tattoos on display. The shirt comes off and falls to the floor, Louis' hair flopping back into place, stray hairs of his eyebrow pulled up oddly and his eyes flashing blue. He slumps back into his spot on the floor, tummy rolling and hands resting calmly in his lap as if he's asking if he can take off his pants. Harry nods curtly behind the camera and Louis goes for it, looking down at himself, fingers picking at the seam of his sweatpants. Grabbing the edge of the tub, he hauls himself up.

The phone rises to get Louis' face in the shot but still maintains his bottom half in the picture. Louis looks at the camera coyly, toying with the tie of his sweatpants before wrapping his fingers around it and yanking, undoing the knot. He slides his thumbs in between his skin and the pants, pulling out a bit and then sliding them down, revealing the thick band of his boxer shorts before pushing them off too.

Harry watches as his pants fall to the floor, while the camera stays steady on Louis. It's all very intimate, watching at his partner doing something completely normal, and it makes him feel some way. He watches Louis' languid movements, chest rising slowly, breathing softly behind the phone.

Louis places himself in the bath, water sloshing almost over the edge but rebounding back to cover Louis, and Harry finds he’s a bit jealous of it.

"Joining me?" Louis looks up at him through his lashes, teeth biting his lip, and the video stops.

 

**January 31 // 11:29 AM**

 

The video starts with a bit of a scuffle, getting a view of the highway and the top of the steering wheel before Harry turns it around on himself.

“I’m driving, so I probably shouldn’t be filming, but,” he grins at the camera and then pans over to Louis, who is curled up in the passenger seat, asleep. “Look how cute he is. He better wake up before we get home, because I am not going to have the heart to wake him.”

He lets the camera record Louis for a few minutes longer, catching the way he snuffles in his nose and makes a quiet little noise while he curls up even tighter.

“Okay, that’s all,” Harry chuckles, turning the camera back on himself. “Now before I crash the car,” he hums, turning the camera back around to the road and ending the video there.

 

**February 1 // 5:14 PM**

 

It’s mostly dark when the video starts, but then what appears to be a cell phone flash light comes on, illuminating Louis’ face.

“Hi, so,” he starts, voice hushed like he’s hiding, “today is Harry’s birthday. His mum came and got him earlier and took him to lunch while I set up the apartment for his surprise party. I’m currently filming on my present for him, a new camcorder. I never thought he’d keep with the whole video diary thing but he’s been doing it for a month now, and he’s still pretty into it, so I thought this might be a good idea.”

He shuffles around a bit and groans when his elbow knocks off something hard, and chorus of ‘shh!’s coming from nowhere.

“I’m in the cupboard under the sink, by the way, which was a feat to get into. It’ll be perfect to jump out and surprise him, though, because I’m the one hidden closest to the door. Niall’s on watch behind the couch, so he’s gonna let everyone know when Harry’s about to come in. He should be here any minute now,” he whispers, grinning at the camera for a moment.

He shuts off the flashlight and cracks open the cupboard door, sticking just the lense out to get a view of everyone crouched in different places, all hidden from the view of the door. Niall’s blond head is peeking up and over the back of the couch, bouncing slightly like he’s getting impatient.

Louis pushes the cupboard door open a bit wider and reaches up, setting the camcorder down on the counter beside the sink to record Harry coming in, when he finally does. There’s a soft thump as Louis closes himself back in the cupboard, and then it’s only a few moments until something happens.

Niall flaps his arms and whisper-shouts for everyone to get ready, the door handle jiggling a bit before the door pushes open. The camera records, hidden in plain sight, while Harry walks in behind his mother, turning on the lights in the dimly lit apartment.

As soon as the lights come on everyone jumps out from their hiding spots, Harry’s closest friends and family shocking him so much that he stumbles back against the door with a surprised little shriek.

Louis clambers out of the cupboard and runs to him, the camera catching the way he flings his arms around Harry’s neck and hugs him tight.

“Happy birthday!” He shouts, probably too loudly, but he’s excited and so is everybody else and Harry looks like he’s so happy he could cry.

“You threw me a surprise party,” he coos, looking at Louis like he hung all the stars in the sky. “I can’t believe you pulled this off.”

Louis laughs softly at that and steps away from Harry, grabbing the camcorder off the counter and hiding it behind his back while Harry is distracted.

“Also,” he says, stepping forward again. The camera gets a nice angle of the back of his ankles and whoever’s feet are behind him. “I know it’s a little early for gifts, but I figured you’d want to be using this throughout the party, so,” he takes the camcorder from behind his back and aims it at Harry’s face, zooming in so much that his features are the only thing visible.

“No way,” Harry gasps, his excited face blown up wide on the camera screen, “you got me a real camera!”

Louis laughs and nods, handing it over when Harry reaches for it. He lets Harry aim the camera at him instead now, playing with the zoom for a moment before panning over the other guests of the party.

“Oh, Louis, I love it,” he squeals, letting the camera catch a glimpse of the floor while he hugs his boyfriend once more. “Now c’mon, let’s get this party started! We finished lunch hours ago, where’s the food?”

There’s the sound of laughter and then Harry turns the camera around to his face, sticking his tongue out and grinning wide before ending the video and turning it off.

 

**February 2 // 12:39 PM**

 

The video starts out blurry but quickly focuses on Harry’s face, showing how widely he’s grinning and how his cheeks are a bit flushed. It’s later now, most of his family gone from the party and only his friends remaining, scattered around the small flat. There’s a mess of light brown hair buried in the side of Harry’s neck, and Harry looks like he couldn’t be happier about it.

“It’s still my birthday party, though it’s not my birthday anymore,” Harry tells the camera, words the tiniest bit slurred from the alcohol he’s obviously been consuming. “And Lou said that once everyone leaves he’s gonna give me birthday sex,” he whispers excitedly.

Louis suddenly shushes him, popping up from where he was buried in his neck and clapping a hand over Harry’s mouth. “Don’t say that! What if our future kids are watching this?” He chides, and Harry’s eyes visibly light up.

“Oo ‘ing ee ona av is?” He mumbles, and Louis giggles and removes his hand from over his mouth.

“What?”

“You think we’re gonna have kids?” Harry repeats, sounding enthralled with the idea.

Louis blushes deeply, eyes flicking between the camera and Harry’s eyes. “I mean, you’ll have to put a ring on it first, but. Maybe. Someday,” he concedes, throwing in a little shrug of his shoulder for good measure.

Harry just beams at him, smile wide enough to split his face right in half. “Okay. Someday,” he agrees, staring at Louis for a moment longer. Louis crosses his eyes and makes a face at him and that’s it for Harry, really; he nearly pounces on Louis and kisses him hard, surprising a tiny squeak out of him and pressing him back against the couch.

The camera falls into one their laps and then gets picked up, before it can get broken in Harry’s haste to get on top of Louis. Niall’s face comes into the frame and he grins, making a few faces before he laughs.

“Think this party is about over, then,” he suggests, panning to Harry and Louis for a second before panning back to his own face, looking disgusted. “Don’t think I could get your attention right now if I blew up, Hazza, so I’ll say it here. Happy birthday, bro, we all love you loads and wish you the best for this next year of your life. Now I’m gonna get me and the lads out of here because I think I just saw Louis’ dick in my peripheral and I’m all set with that. Bye!” The camera sweeps over the few remaining guests at the party once more before the camera clicks off, the video ending on a blurry shot of the floor.

 

**February 14 // 6:17 PM**

 

"Louis' first ever cooking experience!" Harry smiles from behind the camera. Louis' dressed in red sweatpants and a red and white stripped shirt, cooking some sort of meat on the pan. "Smells good, baby, whatcha cookin'?"

The camcorder gets close to the sizzling meat in the pan and then switches to show Harry’s chin resting on Louis' shoulder and Louis concentrating on cooking.

"Hopefully, chicken stuffed with mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham with a side of mash," he finishes with a smile.

"Well, that's a mouthful."

Louis nods. "You know I love your presence, but I'd quite like to make this right, so if you'd please just," he says waving his hand in the direction of anywhere else but here.

"Oh, I love it when you get snappy," Harry smirks nosing at his neck.

The smaller boy shrugs his shoulder blocking Harry from the ticklish skin. "You're such a loser," he tries weakly.

"But I’m your loser," Harry whispers, pecking his cheek before slinking off into the living room, leaving his boyfriend alone and stopping the video.

 

**February 14 // 7:24 PM**

 

“Louis is still fucking cooking,” Harry groans, staring into the camera with a pained expression. “It smells so good, but he keeps saying it’s not done yet,” he whines. He’s sprawled out lengthwise on the couch, holding the camera above him.

“I can hear you, you dick,” Louis calls from the kitchen, which is really just a stone's throw from where Harry is sitting.

Harry sits up, looking for Louis over the back of the couch. “Is it almost done?” He asks hopefully, repeating himself for about the tenth time in the past ten minutes alone.

“Yes,” Louis finally hisses, and Harry is up and off the couch in seconds.

He keeps the camera in his hand while he sits down at the table, making sure he has the perfect shot of Louis placing the plate down in front of him. It smells even better up close than it did from the couch, and Harry can’t help but moan out loud.

“It’s a piece of chicken, Harry, calm down,” Louis laughs, but his cheeks are flushed pink like he’s enjoying the attention, so Harry keeps it up.

“Well if it tastes half as good as it smells, I might up and leave you for it,” he teases. Louis flips him off and then goes back to the stove for his own plate, coming back to sit down across from Harry.

“Dig in, then, let’s see if I’ll end up single tonight,” Louis sighs, propping his chin up in his hand and watching Harry.

Harry sets the camera down on the table beside him, making sure it still has a good angle of Louis, and then cuts a bite of his chicken and pops it in his mouth. It’s easily one of the best things he’s ever eaten and he doesn’t pretend it isn’t, dropping his head onto the table and moaning loudly.

“Pack your bags,” he mutters once he’s swallowed his food, taking another bite and waving Louis off with his hand.

Louis laughs brightly, looking thrilled that Harry seems to like the food so much. He takes a bite for himself and hums modestly, like he knows it’s good but he’s not going to admit it.

Harry hardly says a word for the rest of the meal, caught between shoveling it down so he can get on with fucking Louis’ brains out and eating slow so he can make it last, it’s _that_ good. When he finally finishes, though, Louis is already done, staring him down across the table.

“So you liked it, then?” He asks hopefully, and Harry nods quickly.

“Loved it, holy shit, you’re doing all the cooking from now on,” he declares, standing up from his chair and taking their plates to the sink. Louis follows him, trapping him against the counter when he turns around. Harry’s arms immediately wind around Louis’ waist, pulling him in and up slightly so that he’s on his toes. “However can I thank you?” He asks dramatically, his voice low, and Louis shivers.

“I can think of a few ways,” Louis breathes, making Harry huff a small laugh. They’re only half in the shot, but the camera still catches Harry’s hands sliding down to grab at Louis’ ass.

“To the bedroom, then,” Harry hums, releasing Louis from his hold and watching him scamper off. He grabs the camera from the table and follows after him, finding Louis standing at the end of the bed, seemingly taking in his surroundings.

"Flower petals?" Louis questions, raises his eyebrows and turns to look at Harry.

Harry shrugs, smiling. "Wanted to be romantic."

“You’re gonna record this, too, then?” Louis asks, a bit breathless, and the camera wobbles when Harry shrugs again.

“Do you not want me to?” He asks, filming the way Louis’ eyes flicker down to the camera for just a moment.

“Don’t care, just, fucking c’mere,” he breathes, and Harry sets the camera down on the dresser as quickly as he can and walks right to Louis, pulling him in for a bruising kiss. Louis' hands go straight to his mess of hair, fingers carefully tangling in brown curls while Harry palms over Louis' sweatpant covered bum.

The camera is in the perfect position to capture the way Harry lays Louis down a moment later, walking him back until he can’t anymore and the climbing up on top once Louis is lying flat. They’re both visible in profile now, lips attached again, Harry’s hands working on getting Louis’ sweatpants off before he pulls away to get his own clothes off as well.

The camera doesn’t see the way Louis’ eyes sweep over Harry’s body but it sees the way he reaches up to touch, palming over Harry’s newly naked chest and then gripping at his shoulder, bringing him back down for another kiss. Harry lets it happen for a few moments and then mumbles something against Louis’ lips, making Louis release him so he can reach over to the bedside table.

They’ve not even been together for two whole months but they’re clearly so comfortable with each other, Louis spreading his legs enough for Harry’s body to fit between them while Harry reaches down, making Louis gasp with his fingers out of sight of the camera. They both seem to forget about the camera for a moment, Harry watching Louis’ face while Louis lets his eyes close.

It’s a few minutes before Louis starts to whine, hips shifting and canting gently while Harry quirks his lips. The camera gets the way the muscles in his arm flex suddenly and Louis moans out loudly, fingers gripping hard at the sheets and his head tipping back slowly.

“Ready,” he pants finally, opening his eyes again to look up at Harry. Harry pulls one more trick that makes Louis whimper before he pulls his hand out from between Louis’ legs, reaching over to the bedside table again.

Louis’ head flops to the side and he looks at the camera, staring into it a for a long moment. He keeps staring while his hand comes up to rest on his tummy, fingers just barely visible over the swell of it when he breathes.

Harry settles between his legs again after a moment and Louis finally pulls his gaze away from the camera, looking back up at his boyfriend. Harry looks down until he’s finished rolling the condom over his cock, and when he finally meets Louis’ eyes they both just freeze for a second. Louis takes in a sharp breath and it seems to spur Harry into action, making him reach for the bottle he left on the edge of the bed.

“Whenever you’re ready, love,” Louis huffs, canting his hips up again and grunting quietly.

“Wanna take my time,” Harry explains, finally reaching up to rest his hands on either side of Louis’ head. Louis’ face is still mostly visible to the camera while Harry sinks into him, and the camera records every hitch of his breath and tiny whimper that escapes him.

Harry seems to change his mind rather quickly about taking his time, hips picking up speed with every thrust. Louis is loudly encouraging it, legs wrapped tightly around Harry’s waist and his hands gripping tightly at the hair at the very back of Harry’s head.

“Harder,” Louis demands, over and over, his voice getting higher and breathier with every plea. Harry delivers, fucking him into the mattress until finally Louis cries out, coming all over himself. The camera catches every twitch of his body while Harry fucks him through it, until he eventually stills and finishes as well.

Harry’s arms wobble and then give out, and he goes crashing down on top of Louis, dick still buried inside of him. Louis grunts loudly, his entire body twitching again as he pushes at Harry’s side.

“Off, you’re gonna squash me,” he complains, but Harry doesn’t comply for at least a full minute. He finally pulls out and rolls off of Louis, removing the condom and getting up to throw it away, petals stuck to his back. He grabs the camera on his way back, laying down beside Louis and letting him cuddle close as he aims the camera at their faces.

Louis looks like a mess, eyes watery and droopy and his hair stuck up all over the place. Harry doesn’t look much better, lips swollen and red and sweat beading around his hairline. Louis noses at his chest and hides his face as well as he can, but the camera still sees him smiling.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he murmurs, punctuating each word with a little kiss to Harry’s skin.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Harry repeats, trying to look down at his boyfriend. “Thank you for dinner.”

“You’re welcome,” Louis says automatically, voice sounding sleepy already. “Thank you for the marvelous dicking.”

Harry laughs loudly at that, which makes Louis smile again, and after pressing one more kiss to the side of Louis’ head, Harry clicks the camera off and settles in for the night.

 

**February 21 // 8:01 AM**

 

"A massive snowstorm has just washed over Northern England, cancelling schools and closing off roads. We recommend you stay safe and stay inside if you can. Here's Greg with more details."

The morning news runs in the background while Harry sits on the couch making faces at the camera, Louis in the kitchen making eggs and toast for the both of them. He comes in just a moment later with two plates in his hands and napkins in his mouth.

"Thank you," says Harry, putting the camera down on the arm of the couch and taking one of the plates from the smaller man. He quickly forgets about the camera once he’s got a mouthful of eggs, beckoning for Louis to come closer.

Louis hums quietly, sitting down beside him on the couch. "What's it look like today?"

"We're just being pounded with snow right now, so I'm assuming that we've got a cancellation, and we're probably stuck in here."

“Oh no,” Louis drawls, nudging his head against Harry’s arm until Harry lifts it and lets him cuddle up underneath. “Whatever will we get up to if we’re stuck in here all day?”

Harry grins and looks down at him, adjusting his legs so that Louis can rest his plate on top of his thigh and use it as a table. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” he hums, jostling Louis a little bit with the arm wrapped around him and eating with his free hand.

They eat in quiet for a little bit until, sure enough, both of their phones buzz with messages at the same time a few minutes later. Harry checks his first even though he already knows what it is, grinning widely and letting out a quiet cheer.

 _‘No morning, afternoon or evening classes. Stay safe’_ Is all the text says. He shows it to Louis, who mimics his sound, and then they both fall quiet again as they finish their breakfast.

Once they’re both done and their plates have been pushed to the coffee table, Louis reaches for the remote to find something more enjoyable than the news and Harry reaches for the big fluffy blanket thrown over the back of the couch and spreads it over them both. Louis cuddles even closer once the blanket is in place, resting his head in the crook of Harry’s neck and only fidgeting every now and again.

The camera is in just the right position to catch his eyes starting droop after a little while, and he props his chin up on Harry’s shoulder and looks up at him. “You should go make hot chocolate since I made breakfast,” he mumbles, bony little chin digging into Harry’s shoulder with every word.

“Oh, should I?” Harry teases, smiling as he turns his head just slightly to look at Louis. Louis nods, digging his chin into Harry’s shoulder a few more times and giving him his best pout. “Marshmallows or whipped cream?” Harry finally sighs, and Louis grins and moves over so Harry can get up.

“Both, obviously,” he scoffs, laying down in the warm spot where Harry was sitting once he’s gone to the kitchen. He looks up and notices the camera then, reaching up for it and pulling it down.

“Has this been on the whole time?” He mumbles to himself, noticing that the time signature at the bottom of the screen says it’s been recording for close to an hour. “Battery’s gonna die,” he murmurs, turning it around and making a silly face at it before shutting it off.

 

**February 24 // 1:08 PM**

 

Louis starts the video with his hand stirring something on the stove, steam rising slowly out of the pot. He moves the camera closer to get a shot of the soup inside the pot, before grunting and pulling it away to clean the lense when it fogs up.

“So, Harry’s caught the plague, somehow,” he sighs, letting the spoon rest against the side of the pot and turning the camera around to face him. “His mother sent me her recipe for soup that he loves so much, and I’ve tried to make it, but I’m not sure it worked out.”

He pans back to the soup, which is simmering away in the pot, and then sighs again. He walks to the living room, where Harry is bundled under a blanket on the couch, staring miserably at the tv. He looks up when he hears Louis coming, immediately looking for his hands.

“Is the soup ready?” He asks hopefully, voice nasally and a bit scratchy. Louis shakes his head and sits down on the back of the couch, reaching down to run his free hand through Harry’s hair.

“Not yet, love, a few more minutes,” he promises, and Harry sighs and nods. His nose is red like he’s been blowing it all day and he keeps sniffling every few seconds, until finally he lets out a sneeze so big Louis almost startles right off the couch.

“Bless you,” he chuckles, playing with Harry’s hair again, while Harry wipes at his nose with a tissue from the box on the floor beside the couch.

“Thanks,” Harry whimpers in reply, and Louis just pouts at him for a moment before he gets up to go back to the kitchen. The soup appears to be mostly ready by now so he spoons out a bowl for Harry, making sure to get lots of noodles and the biggest chunks of chicken for him.

Harry nearly sprains his neck sitting up so fast when Louis comes in with his soup, reaching for it desperately. Louis hands it over once Harry appears to be stable in his new position, sitting down beside him on the couch and letting Harry cuddle up against him. He aims the camera at both of their faces and Harry sighs miserably, dropping his head onto Louis’ shoulder.

Louis keeps filming for a while, watching Harry in the little screen attached to the camera and smiling to himself. Harry falls asleep about halfway through his bowl of soup and Louis snatches it before the hot liquid dumps all over Harry’s lap, leaning forward as much as he can to put it on the coffee table. He puts the camera down as well, letting it get a view of the bottom of the couch for a minute while he repositions.

When he picks the camera back up he’s laying down on his back on the couch with Harry on top of him, head pillowed on Louis’ chest. He’s still sound asleep, sniffling gently even now, and Louis just smiles at the camera and cards his fingers through Harry’s hair once more before he turns the camera off.

 

**March 3 // 6:10 PM**

 

The camcorder rests on the counter in the kitchen while Louis sits and watches Harry move swiftly around him. Dinner's on the stove, some sort of stir fry Harry had learned how to make from a morning talk show a few days back. There's a tension in the air that the camera can't feel, but it's suffocating Louis and radiating from Harry.

"What's wrong?" Louis asks, arms crossed. "You've been like this all damn day, what's up?"

"Nothing." Something in Harry's voice says that is something wrong, but he's just being difficult. He's been dodging Louis since they woke up, and Louis is clueless.

Louis sighs. "What did I do now?"

"Maybe you should ask Liam what you did," Harry finally snaps, his tone bitter.

Louis winces slightly. "Why would I..." he trails off, racking his brain for anything that would help him understand why Liam is involved.

"Are you cheating on me with Liam?" Harry deadpans, setting a seasoning down roughly, his head bowed.

It's quiet, Louis' shocked face visible and Harry's torso in the corner of the screen, neither of them moving.

"Why would I- why would you think that?"

Harry puts the seasoning away and closes the cupboard above his head sharply, turning to look at his boyfriend. "You always hang out with Liam, and you're always texting him with too many emoticons and smiley faces and- and don't think that I don't see the way he looks at you when we're together-" he rambles on.

"Harry," Louis tries. He stands up, walking over to his anxious boyfriend.

"-I mean, he's not a bad looking guy, but we're dating and." Harry stops when Louis places his hands on his broad shoulders.

"I'm not cheating on you with Liam, or anyone, for that matter. We were planning the trip to the states for spring break, that's it, we just wanted everything to go right, no kinks in the plan."

Harry's cheeks flood with color; he looks embarrassed and relieved at the same time. "Oh my god, I'm so s-"

"It's fine," Louis promises. "Just a misunderstanding is all." He pulls Harry in close, wrapping his arms around his torso, squeezing him in a reassuring hug.

Harry mumbles something into Louis' shoulder and Louis nods, rubbing his back. They pull away from the embrace and Harry smiles at Louis softly.

"So, dinner." Louis walks over to get the camera, grinning happily as he picks it up.

"Can't believe you thought I was cheating on you with _Liam_ ," he giggles, making a face at the camera before he shuts it off.

 

**March 10 // 5:47 AM**

 

Harry and Niall are the first people to pop up on the screen. They're asleep in the airport, luggage back at their side, Harry's head resting on Niall’s shoulder. His eyes are closed with bags under them, his hair is every direction while Niall got up early enough to do his hair and put on clothes that aren't pajamas. They’re headed to America for Spring Break, which lasts about two weeks for them, and they’d all be much more excited right now if it wasn’t literally the ass crack of dawn.

"Look at my babes," Louis sings softly, zooming up on Niall's nose. Liam comes back, a cup holder with four coffees in one hand and a granola bar in the other. It's no surprise he's doing the best out of all of them at six in the morning considering that he probably gets up at four to eat a bowl of nails and hug a teddy bear.

"Got us some coffee and meself a bar of some sort," He mumbles, turning his head to read the packing of the bar.

Harry’s head pops instantly, reaching up to take one of the coffees from Liam and then settling back into position against Niall’s side. Louis takes a coffee as well, even though he doesn’t really like it, and then sits down next to Harry with Liam taking the seat on his other side.

Since the little cheating scandal a few days ago, Louis has been sure to be even cozier with Liam, just because it makes Harry all squirmy and extra rough in bed after. That’s why he cuddles right up to Liam, nuzzling under his arm and pointing the camera at their faces. Liam grins at the camera and wraps his arm tighter around Louis’ shoulders, jostling him a little too hard and almost spilling his drink.

“Jesus, Payno, gentle,” Louis scolds, fixing the cover on his cup and shoving the camera closer to Liam’s face. Liam just laughs and pushes the camera away, taking a bite of his mystery bar and pulling a slight face.

Harry taps on Louis’ thigh out of shot, but the camera catches him turn his head to look. Harry gives him a pleading little look and wriggles in his seat a bit, eyes flickering to where Liam’s arm is still wrapped around Louis. Louis turns the camera to film him and Harry looks at for barely a second before looking back at Louis with the same pleading eyes.

Louis huffs a laugh and pulls away from Liam, dropping his bodyweight into Harry’s side instead and smushing his face into his chest. The camera catches the little scene, held at an armslength from them both, and it catches the adoring little smile on Harry’s face that Louis can’t see from where he is.

Louis peeks one eye open and smiles at the camera once more before letting his arm relax, getting a shot of both of their laps before the video ends.

 

**March 10 // 6:07 PM**

 

The video starts out blurry but focuses quickly, zoning in on Louis’ ass in a pair of sweatpants. He’s hauling a suitcase through the airport, his whole body tilted slightly to the side with the weight of it. He looks soft and scruffy in his sweats, hair messy from sleeping on the plane, and his face looks even softer when he turns around to look for Harry.

“Hazza,” he mutters, waiting for Harry to catch up the few feet before setting off again. He doesn’t seem to have anything to say, just wanted Harry next to him, and Harry is glad that the camera can’t see the huge, dopey smile on his face at the thought.

He pans up to get a shot of the sign in the airport, ‘Welcome to Miami’ spelled out in big letters. He pans back to Louis then, who is still just trudging along, the others walking behind them. They hail a cab rather quickly once they get out of the airport, tossing all their bags into the trunk and then piling into the back seat. Louis ends up in Harry’s lap, of course, and is asleep before the cab even pulls away from the curb. Harry keeps the camera aimed at his peaceful face until they arrive at the hotel, waking him up with a gentle kiss on the nose.

Louis takes the camera gladly when Harry offers to take his luggage up to the room for him, pulling funny, yet sleepy, faces at it the whole elevator ride. He films the short walk to the hotel room and then sets it down on the tv console once they’re inside, flopping down face first onto the bed and letting out a loud sigh.

The camera watches as Harry sets their bags down on the floor beside the one bed in the room, smiling down at Louis for a moment. Liam, Niall and Zayn are staying in the room across the hall, with two beds between the three of them. Harry is glad they decided to book separate rooms, because he can practically hear their protests in his head as he climbs up on top of Louis on the bed. Louis just makes a quiet noise and gets comfy under Harry’s weight, not budging at all when Harry starts bouncing a little to get his attention.

“Lou,” Harry chuckles, lowering his head until he can look straight at Louis’ face where it’s smushed against the mattress. “It’s only 6:00.”

Louis mumbles something that the camera doesn’t pick up, but Harry hears it clearly and it makes him laugh.

“Well, you will care at 4am when you wake up and can’t go back to sleep,” he chides, though the camera can still see the wide, fond smile on his face. Louis huffs and turns his head in the other direction, his face toward the camera now.

“Keep me awake, then,” he mutters, eyes still closed like he’s really going to fall asleep. It’s only about 11 at night back in England but they got up early this morning to catch the plane, so he’s allowed to be a little sleepy.

“I don’t know what you’re insinuating,” Harry gasps theatrically. The camera catches Louis’ lips twitch up into the smallest of smiles. “But I told the boys we’d meet them for dinner in about,” he checks his watch, “forty five minutes. So whatever it is we do engage in, it will have to be over by then.”

Louis hums softly, as if he’s thinking, and then shrugs one shoulder as best he can with Harry still on top of him. “Reckon you could suck me off in the shower and then have us both cleaned up in forty five minutes, don’t you?” He mumbles, peeking one eye open to look up at Harry.

Harry rolls his eyes and sighs, sitting up on top of Louis’s upper thighs. “You might be overestimating my sucking abilities,” he chuckles, but Louis shakes his head.

“Definitely, definitely not overestimating your sucking abilities.”

Harry laughs at that and climbs off the bed, taking hold of Louis’ ankles and pulling him along too. “C’mon, then, let’s get started,” he sighs, reaching over to shut the camera off once Louis is finally standing on his own two feet again.

(They end up being almost fifteen minutes late to dinner, but none of the other boys have to know that it was because Louis decided he wanted to be eaten out instead and then insisted on getting Harry off afterward.)

 

**March 11 // 11:23 AM**

 

Harry turns the camera on to pan over the beach, getting a nice shot of the waves crashing on the sand and the very few other people scattered around. He pans a little bit more and suddenly Louis’ face is taking up the whole screen, his eyes crossed and his lips pulled wide in his signature funny face. Harry giggles like a child behind the camera and Louis breaks, laughing as well and looking above the camera, at Harry’s face.

“So here we are in lovely Miami Beach,” Louis says, making his voice a bit deeper and doing his best American accent, sounding exactly like a news reporter. “The weather today is sunny and hot as balls, frankly, and I cannot wait to get in the ocean. Back to you in the studio, Jim,” he grins, before reaching up to push the camera sideways so he’s not in shot anymore. When Harry straightens it back out Louis is running down the beach toward the water, shirt fluttering down into the sand behind him like he’d ripped it off while running.

“Such a menace,” Harry sighs, but there’s a smile in his voice that even the camera can hear. He points the camera over to where the rest of the boys are sitting to his left, Zayn and Liam both stretched out in opposite directions on towels and Niall digging through the cooler for something. He comes out with a can and then straightens up, kicking the lid shut and going back to his beach chair.

“Niall, it’s not even 11:30, and you’re having a beer?” Harry asks incredulously. Niall is as Irish as they come, Harry supposes, but he seriously worries about Niall’s alcohol intake sometimes.

“Second one of the day, mate, cheers,” Niall grins, popping open the top of the can and taking a long sip. Harry shakes his head at him and settles down into his own chair, pointing the camera back out to the water to look for Louis. Louis is squatting down in the shallowest bit of water trying to catch something in his hand, and when he finally succeeds he bolts up and runs over to the other boys.

He holds his finger up to his lips as if to tell Niall and Harry not to say anything, and then slowly creeps toward Liam and Zayn. He falters for a moment, as if deciding which one of them to torment, and then seems to decide that Liam might be more fun. Liam is laying on his back with his eyes closed to the sun, earbuds in with the music up loud enough that Harry can just barely hear it from where he is, but the camera can’t. Louis turns around to wink at the camera before squatting down again, giving it a nice view of his ass in the position as he reaches over Liam’s chest and opens his hand.

A crab about the size of Louis’ palm falls onto Liam’s chest, and Liam’s eyes pop open instantly. He makes a face at Louis and then looks down at his chest, gasping loudly when he sees the crab.

He lets out a high pitched shriek and starts to thrash, the crab slipping off his torso and scurrying away into the sand. Liam is on his feet in a second and Louis is already gone, running as fast as he can back to the water so that when Liam inevitably tackles him it probably won’t hurt as much.

Harry lets out a soft laugh as he films the whole thing, watching Liam catch up to Louis almost as soon as they both reach the water, picking him up around the waist and tossing him easily into the waves. Harry is a bit worried until Louis pops back up, laughing loudly and swimming toward Liam again to fight back. Louis scoops up a handful of wet sand from under the water and goes to throw it at Liam but Liam dodges it, taking off in the other direction. Louis takes off right after him with another handful, trying to get close enough to throw it at him.

Harry keeps filming them as they run back and forth at each other, taking turns throwing handfuls of sand and chasing the other around in the shallow water. It’s when Liam takes the biggest scoop of sand yet, double fisted and ready to ruin Louis’ hair, that Louis turns around and starts to run again. He isn’t watching where he’s going, splashing carelessly through the water, and then suddenly he’s screaming out in pain and going crashing to the ground.

Harry is out of his seat before he even knows it, dropping the camera into the chair and sprinting down to the water where Liam is already bent down beside Louis, hauling him up to the sand where the waves won’t hit him. Niall grabs the camera and then follows after him, Zayn on his heels.

“What happened?” Harry demands, dropping to his knees beside Louis and looking down at his foot. There’s something small but very pointy looking lodged right into the sensitive arch of the bottom of his foot, blood trickling down the spines of the thing where they’re impaling his skin.

“Get it out, get it out!” Louis is wailing, and Harry doesn’t even think before reaching for it, until Liam stops him.

“Harry, that’s a sea urchin, don’t touch it. We need to get him to a hospital,” Liam urges, holding Harry’s forearm still to keep him from trying to yank the thing out of Louis’ foot.

“Shit, Lou,” Harry mutters, scooping Louis up in his arms and cradling him to his chest while they all move quickly back to their stuff. Niall is doing a horrible job with filming but he manages to catch the panic in Harry’s eyes and the way Louis is trembling slightly, unable to move his foot much at all without searing pain.

Zayn goes to get the lifeguard to get an ambulance while Liam does his best to collect all of their things, Niall still filming Louis and Harry. Louis has his face buried in Harry’s chest and Harry is talking quietly in his ear, telling him to just hold on for a minute and they’ll get the thing out of his foot and he’ll be fine. Louis might be crying but the camera can’t see, can only see the way his arms tighten around Harry’s neck a little bit when Harry whispers something especially gentle in his ear.

Niall stops recording once they’re in the back of the ambulance, Louis holding Harry’s hand so hard he might break a few bones while the paramedics dig the urchin out of his foot. He thinks it might be best to leave this bit to the memory alone, because the way Louis is screeching is probably not something he’s going to want to watch back someday.

 

**March 17 // 5:16 PM**

 

Louis turns the camera on and aims it right at Harry, who is trying fervently to reach for a french fry from the basket in the center of the table without getting hit by Niall, who is waving his arms around manically as he tells some story. Harry is the farthest into the booth, directly across the table from Louis with Niall and Liam on his left, while Louis is the farthest in on the other side with just Zayn seated beside him. Harry catches Louis laughing and looks up to see him filming, sticking his tongue out at the camera before trying again to get a fry.

Zayn pushes the basket idly toward him whilst still listening to Niall, and Harry hums triumphantly when he finally gets a fry and pops it in his mouth. Louis grins at him and sets the camera down on the table, propping it up so that they’re all mostly in the shot.

They’re in some Irish pub in Boston now for St. Patrick’s Day, because according to Niall, Boston is “the most Irish city in this whole fuckin’ country, lads, please.” They’ve been travelling slowly up the east coast this week, stopping in most of the major cities, because according to Zayn the west coast is “far too mainstream, c’mon, it’ll be inundated with college kids.” They’ve got about another week until they’re headed back home, and when they leave Boston tomorrow night they’re going back to New York for the rest of the trip, because it’s been their favorite and anything more northern than where they are now will be much too cold to do anything fun.

All of them are pleasantly buzzed, a few beers in them each and the remains of their early dinner scattered around the table in front of them. The plan was to get something in their systems before they head to a party all of them were invited to by some other college kids they met earlier in the week, and they're smart enough to go to a bar close enough for them to walk to the place.

"Whenever you're ready, lads," Liam says, after Niall finishes his story. They all nod their heads and try to get out of the booth as smoothly as they can, and while Harry waits for his row to get up he downs the rest of his beer and then goes for Louis' almost empty cup. He looks at Louis holding the camera and wiggles his eyebrows, setting the mug back down and licking his lips, eventually shimmying his way out of the booth to stand next to his friends.

Liam pulls out his wallet first, insisting that they all leave a two dollar tip for the waitress, Harry putting four dollars down for himself and Louis. They pay individually and leave in an orderly fashion, mostly stumbling down the street to the house. Once they turn the corner, it's obvious where the party is; the house is big, green lights streaming from the inside, people crowding outside of it, and there's some kind of fog drifting through from the inside out.

Louis feels the beat from the music in his chest and a hand around his waist, relaxing into the touch when he recognizes that it's Harry. He feels Harry nose at his neck, mumbling something the camcorder can't pick up with all the noise around them. Harry's a bit tipsy, Louis can tell by the way he's slurring his words together. He thinks it's only going to get worse from there, so he shuts the camera off after getting another glimpse of each boy's face.

 

**March 18 // 2:56 AM**

 

Liam’s got two shots in his hands with Louis beside him, Harry behind the camera, and Niall and Zayn are nowhere to be seen. Louis takes one of the shots from Liam and faces the camera, grinning at Harry behind it. He looks absolutely sloshed, eyes hazy and cheeks red, his hair an absolute mess.

“Ready,” Harry giggles, and both boys position their glasses at their lips, “set,” they both fidget for a moment, until Harry shouts, “go!”

Liam and Louis both tip the shots back and swallow quickly, but Louis slams the glass down on the table a fraction of a second before Liam, and then cheers loudly.

“That’s another shot for you, my boy!” He says loudly, voice amplified by the alcohol in his system. Liam groans and rolls his eyes and then Niall appears with another shot, and Harry zooms in as much as he can on Liam’s face while he glares at the camera before doing the next shot. He looks vaguely sick when he puts the glass down, a hand on his stomach and his eyes closed.

“Maybe we should head out soon?” Harry suggests from behind the camera, zooming back out and getting Louis and Niall both in the shot. They both pout but ultimately agree, making their way to the door in a pack. They find Zayn asleep on the couch in the living room, stopping to take a few pictures of him before they wake him. He looks like hell and somebody’s drawn a dick on his forehead but somehow it still doesn’t take away from his beauty, even when he glares at the camera as they lead him to the door.

They’re rowdy as hell on the short walk back to their hotel, laughing and singing loudly in the streets. Harry gets all of it on tape, because even as inebriated as he is, he knows he’ll love to watch this back someday. They all make it back to the hotel in one piece and then finally part ways to go to their separate rooms, Harry and Louis on one side of the hall and the other three on the other side. Harry keeps recording just long enough to see Louis flop down on the bed, still fully clothed and asleep in seconds. Harry at least strips out of his clothes before crawling in to join him, slurring a sweet goodnight to the camera before shutting it off for the night.

 

**March 25 // 11:18 AM**

 

Harry turns the camera on carefully, pointing it at Louis’ sleeping face. They’re still in bed, mostly naked under the covers, and they need to get up soon to catch their flight home but Louis looks so cute Harry can’t bear to wake him up.

Louis snuffles and squishes his face into the pillow, scrunching up his nose and making his lips go all pouty. He’s got a tiny bit of drool in the corner of his mouth, which is wide open, the softest of snores making themselves heard. Harry laughs softly behind the camera and Louis stirs, but ultimately ends up just whimpering softly and relaxing again.

Harry lays his head back down on his own pillow and holds the camera steady, still recording Louis as he breathes in and out slowly. Eventually Louis starts fidgeting and sighing, his telltale signs of being close to consciousness.

His eyes open slowly and Harry holds his breath as he watches them focus, flitting slowly up to Harry’s face. Louis smiles before he even really seems to know what’s going on, and then he laughs.

“Filming me sleeping, Harold? That’s a bit creepy, innit?” He mutters, rolling onto his back and stretching his limbs out.

“I suppose,” Harry hums, sitting up and pointing the camera down at Louis, watching him arch his back to stretch out more. “But you’re so damn pretty, I can’t help it.”

“M’not pretty,” Louis argues, going limp against the bed once he’s done stretching. “I’m rugged and manly, I’ve got facial hair,” he points out, rubbing his hand over his chin as if to make sure it’s still there.

“Right, rugged, manly, and absolutely beautiful,” Harry corrects, grinning and leaning down to kiss Louis gently. Louis shoves him over, though, making Harry drop the camera onto the bed as he falls onto his back, Louis rolling right on top of him.

The camera lands in a pile of sheets, Harry and Louis’ faces both just barely visible over the top of one of the bumps. Louis has Harry’s hands pinned up above his head and they’re both just grinning at each other like idiots, neither of them moving.

“Say I’m the manliest man you’ve ever seen,” Louis demands, but the smile on his face betrays him.

“You’re the cutest,” Harry corrects, and Louis growls.

“Say I’m manly.”

“No.”

“Say it.”

“I won’t.”

“Say it!”

“I love you.”

Louis looks shocked, staring down at Harry with wide eyes and parted lips. Harry looks just as shocked, if not more, face coloring quickly.

“Not what I meant for you to say,” Louis shrugs, releasing Harry’s hands and sitting back on his upper thighs. “But I’ll take it.”

“You’ll take it?” Harry asks, seeming unsure, carefully sitting up as well. Their faces are only an inch apart like this, and the camera can just barely see them in the upper corner of the frame.

“I’ll take it, as in, I love you too,” Louis says, voice uncharacteristically quiet, like he wants Harry to know how serious he is. The camera can see enough of Harry to capture the grin that spreads over his face then, and he pushes Louis down on the bed, totally out of frame. They’re facing the wrong way now, heads down by the footboard, and all the camera can see of them are their intertwined legs.

There’s the quiet rustling of sheets for a few moments and then Harry moans suddenly, leg kicking out. He nudges the camera enough that the screen flips shut, ending the video there.

 

**April 1 // 6:48 PM**

 

They’re cuddled up on the couch under a light blanket, Louis on top and under Harry’s protective arm, the 1986 _April Fool’s Day_ running on the television in front of them. It’s been a slow day, neither of them trying to pull a trick on the other, which is strange since this is Louis’ day to actually get away with his usual mischievous behaviour. He’s been awkwardly quiet and it’s only worrying Harry a bit that he’s going to get the shit pranked out of him, but he’s pretty sure his own plan is going to work smoothly, and Louis is most likely going to hate him for it.

Harry makes a sudden movement, making Louis flinch on top of him, and he mumbles something about going to the bathroom to pee before getting up and leaving the room. Louis sits up and takes the camera once Harry leaves.

He leans in close. “There’s a water gun in the back of the fridge and a bowl of flour under the sink,” he whispers looking back to where Harry left to make sure he isn’t coming. “I’m gonna get ‘em when he’s sleeping so he thinks he went the day without being pranked.”

He sets the device down while smiling and he lays back down on the couch before Harry walks back into the living room, no expression on his face.

“We should talk.”

That makes Louis sit up, looking at Harry questioningly. “What do you wanna talk about, babe?”

Harry rubs his palms on his thighs as he sits down next to him. “Well, I’ve been thinking about us and our, um, our future, you know? We’ve been friends forever, and I know that we’ve just started dating, but I’d quite like to be with you for the rest of my life. So, um,” he digs down into the couch cushion and pulls out a square box. It looks almost too similar to the box his wristwatch came in, but luckily he’s the only one who notices that.

The camera records the way the smaller boy’s hand comes to cover his mouth and the way Louis’ eyes are watering as Harry gets down on his knee, the gears in his head turning and his heart pounding. Harry’s visible from the waist up, biting his lip trying to hide the giant smile on his face as he looks at Louis.

Harry opens the box slowly, revealing a peanut inside. “April Fool’s.”

Louis’ reaction isn’t exactly what he expected. The camera gets knocked off the table and there’s a pillow repeatedly hitting Harry in the head, Louis cursing him in the background.

“You _fucking bastard_!” Louis shouts at him as Harry attempts to crawl away. “That’s not a bloody prank, you dickhead!”

Harry squeals in pain as his angered partner rolls up a magazine from the table and starts hitting him with that instead, trying to get the camera as if it’ll persuade Louis not to hurt him. Louis beats him to it, snatching it off the floor and turning it off so that the cops won’t have evidence of him killing Harry.

 

**April 1 // 8: 20 PM**

 

“So,” Harry smiles wide. “I’m on the couch.”

He’s lying where he and Louis were earlier in the day, the lamp beside him the only light source in the room. The orange blanket they always use is bunched up around his face, making his green eyes stand out even in the darkness.

He clears his throat and waggles his eyebrows at the camcorder, smile still on his face. “Goodnight, Louis!” He says loud enough for Louis to hear.

There’s a dull, emotionless, “Fuck off, Harry” from down the hall. Harry giggles before he turns off the camcorder, deciding to get some sleep.

 

**April 2 // 9:06 AM**

 

Harry’s in the kitchen making Louis an I’m-sorry-I-fake-proposed-to-you breakfast, consisting of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. He picks up the camera to get a closeup of the sizzling bacon.

“I hope Louis loves me again,” he mutters, pout evident in his voice.

He finishes cooking and setting everything up, a small smile on his face, proud of his comeback. Louis comes in with his moose slippers on, hair in every direction, looking tired and annoyed. Harry rises to his feet to kiss him on the cheek and wish him a good morning, but Louis brushes past him and sits down at the table. He starts eating quietly, legs crossed with each other.

“Lou,” Harry tries.

Louis dutifully ignores him, shoveling food into his mouth and staring straight ahead at the tabletop.

“Lou,” Harry tries again, and Louis lets out a loud breath from his nose.

“I’m not talking to you today,” he says firmly, giving him the shortest of glares and then returning to eating. Harry picks up the camera and sits down beside him, filming his face.

“Are you mad at me?” He asks, making his voice sound as innocent as possible, so maybe Louis will break and kiss him and get over it.

“Uh, yes,” Louis says, voice icy, his typical sign of being closed off and moody.

“Like, really mad at me?” Harry asks, voice a little unsure now, because he knew Louis would be pissed off, but he didn’t know he would be this pissed off.

“You made me cry, Harry,” Louis says quietly, slumping in his seat a little. Harry wonders if the camera can hear the snap of his heart breaking, all the smugness draining from his body.

“Fuck, did I really?” He breathes, reaching out to touch Louis’ face gently. Louis sniffles like he’s going to cry again and Harry wants to throw himself out the window, he feels so guilty.

“No,” Louis says after a minute, and Harry frowns in confusion. He’s about to ask what he’s saying no to but then Louis produces a water gun seemingly out of nowhere, blasting Harry straight in the face with it. Harry shrieks and falls right off his chair, landing on his ass with a thump and somehow keeping the camera aimed at Louis as he goes over to the sink. He retrieves a bowl from under it and then walks back over to Harry, dropping what might be an entire bag’s worth of flour over his head.

“April Fool’s, dickhead,” he smirks, dropping the bowl in Harry’s lap and walking away triumphantly.

“You’re a day late,” Harry calls after him, turning the camera around to himself. It’s no secret that flour turns into the worst kind of paste when it’s wet, and Harry is currently absolutely covered in it, everything except his eyes looking white and cakey.

“And a dollar fuckin’ short, right?” Louis calls back, walking right into the bathroom and slamming the door. Harry hears the lock click and then the shower comes on, and Harry groans loudly. Not only is he covered in wet flour, he’s now unable to even shower until Louis decides he’s been tortured enough. In other words, at least two hours.

“Well played, Lewis. Well played,” he sighs to the camera, laughing softly and shaking his head. He tries to shake some of the sticky flour out of his hair, sighing when it doesn’t work, and then turns the camera off to go see if he can maybe wash it off in the sink.

 

**April 11 // 10:54 AM**

 

The camera is aimed at the ground, Harry’s shoes coming into the frame one at a time with every step he takes. The pavement is wet under his feet with still-melting snow, but even though he’s distracted by the camera he still manages to avoid every little puddle.

Eventually, he sits down and the camera looks at his feet for a moment before it pans up to the scenery in front of him, the beginnings of spring blooming around the vast campus. When he turns the camera around to his face he’s grimacing, but there’s happiness in his eyes.

“Louis From The Future, if you just sat through that little scene there, please refrain from hitting me for trying to be artsy,” he begs, face breaking into a smile as he thinks about it. “Especially because I’m about to pick you up from class right now when it ends in about,” he looks at his wristwatch, “five minutes, and take you out for brunch before my next class at two, because I know for a fact that you forgot to eat breakfast before your two hour lecture this morning and you’re probably starving,” he says all in one breath, clearly proud of himself. He turns the camera back around and films the few students walking by as he waits for Louis’ class to get out, zooming in on a squirrel on a tree branch across the path.

Eventually the doors of the law school open and a bunch of people that aren’t Louis start filing out, until finally Harry sees someone that is Louis. He’s clearly not paying attention, looking down at his phone as he hops down the steps, munching on something that he must’ve charmed out of one of his classmates. Harry starts walking toward him and Louis doesn’t look up at all, until they literally collide and Louis jumps back, obviously surprised.

“Oi, watch where you’re fucking- oh, hi, what are you doing here?” He says sweetly once he realizes it’s Harry, swallowing whatever’s in his mouth and leaning up to peck his lips.

“Were you just going to tell me to watch where I was going?” Harry chuckles, plucking the phone out of Louis’ hands and waving it in his face. Louis blushes and snatches it back, shoving it into his pocket. “Oh, is that a blush? Texting your boyfriend, were you?” Harry teases, poking at Louis’ cheek until Louis laughs.

“I was, actually; was gonna beg you to have food ready for me when I got back, or meet me somewhere to get something,” he explains, as they start heading back off campus. “I’m bloody starving.”

Harry sighs deeply, pointing the camera at Louis’ face and zooming in too much. “Why do you have to ruin everything?” He asked, exasperated, and Louis looks confused.

“What am I ruining?” He laughs, pushing the camera away from his face and grinning up at Harry. Harry gestures to his general surroundings and Louis lights up, jumping over to attach himself to Harry’s front. “Oh! Are you taking me for food?”

Harry nods, holding the camera out so they’re both in shot while Louis squeals with happiness.

“Oh, you are the absolute best. C’mon, I know exactly where I wanna go,” Louis says, grabbing Harry’s hand and proceeding to drag him down the path. Harry points the camera at his own face while he’s being towed by his excited boyfriend, rolling his eyes and grinning. He turns it back around to get one more shot of Louis’ happy face before he ends the video, stuffing the camera into his bag.

 

**April 19 // 9:59 PM**

 

Harry sets down the camcorder on the bed by their feet once he gets settled with his legs crossed beneath him. They’re getting ready for all the finals they have the next few weeks, and that means studying days and days before the actual test. There are textbooks surrounding them; Louis has one in his lap, a paper resting on the page as he highlights keywords and phrases. His glasses droop farther down his nose every time he looks back and forth between the book and the paper. Harry’s got his math equations on the paper in front of him, using his ruler to sketch out a complete blueprint of the “ideal property” for his final class.

Louis suddenly sets his things to the side, rolling off the bed mumbling that he’s going to get some water. He comes back a few minutes later to the same scene as before, only Harry’s paper is in a different direction and he’s closer to it now. His brows are furrowed in concentration as he traces lines and draws arrows and numbers after the markings. Louis goes back to sit on the bed, setting the water down on the desk beside him and then starts his work again. He’s the only one in the shot now and it loses focus when he moves to tangle his fingers in his hair in frustration, gripping the pencil in between his fingers tighter.

“I love you,” Harry says out of nowhere, making Louis blink at him. His eyelashes flutter slowly, and he takes a deep breath when Harry’s hand comes to rest on his knee. He eventually places his tiny hand in the one that’s waiting for it, sighing when Harry’s hand closes around his, thumb rubbing the skin of his knuckles. He looks up at him through his glasses, and Harry looks sleepy in his gray sweater and boxers. “Do you wanna stop for the night, baby?”

Louis nods sleepily, letting go of Harry’s hand to clean up their books and papers. He sets his glasses on the side table by his cup of water while Harry takes the camera and shuts off the lamp, both of them under the covers. Harry’s taken off his sweater and Louis’ rid himself of his own clothes, down to his undergarments. Streams of light come from behind the cracked blinds, making only their outlines seen, every small movement and little word getting picked up by the camera. Louis shifts to place his body nearly on top of Harry’s, digging his face into Harry’s neck.

“I’m just so stressed, Harry,” he whimpers quietly.

Harry hums softly. “Wanna talk about it, baby?”

Louis goes off in a rant of quiet words and whimpers about how law school is hard and he's scared being a boring adult like everyone he knows over the age of 30. He keeps fidgeting on top of Harry, who has a steady hand rubbing up and down his waist, somehow keeping him calm. The topic of their future together inevitably comes up after Louis has finished worrying about the bigger things, life after college, but the camcorder beeps, disturbing them from their bubble. Harry reaches over and grabs for it randomly, shutting it off so they can talk in peace.

 

**April 27 // 8:13 PM**

 

It's date night for them, which is why they're currently at a drive in movie theater watching some poorly made movie, surrounded by other cars full of people. That makes it a little risky to have Louis on his lap like this, even in the back seat, begging loudly enough for Harry to be concerned about the wellbeing of people around them. The camera rests pointed at them on the console between the two front seats, Louis hunched over Harry, legs on either side of the narrow hips. Their lips are connected in a rush of heat and saliva, Harry's hands covering Louis' jean clad arse.

Harry had gone with him, of course, because truth be told he's always had a thing for getting nasty in public: being handsy around the lads and lots of public displays of affection. His philosophy is that if you've got someone as beautiful and lovely as Louis, you can't just keep it all in, resulting in all the touching and adoring stares. But that’s beside the point now with Louis moving his hips in little circles and mouthing at his neck.

They haven’t gotten like this in a while and it’s all a bit foreign; every time Harry bucks his hips Louis makes a sweet new noise, and every press of his lips on an inch of burning skin makes his nerves spark. Harry shucks up Louis’ shirt to get a better grip on his hips, while Louis leaves open mouth kisses up his neck. Louis plants his palms on Harry’s chest once he detaches from his neck, grinding his arse down against the bulge in Harry’s jeans and eliciting a moan from the taller boy. Having Harry moaning like that riles Louis up even more, wanting to please him and put Harry before himself. He’s never been much of a people pleaser, unless that person is Harry.

He sits up fully and bumps his head off the ceiling, Harry giggling beneath him and rubbing his thigh. “You okay, baby?”

Louis pinches his nipple and Harry squirms. “I’m good, thanks for asking.”

"Good, then get on with it," Harry breathes out, pushing his hips up against Louis' arse to get him moving again. Louis lifts himself up an inch, hovering over Harry's lap, and leans down to breathe in his ear.

"You do the work, if you want it so badly," he murmurs, dragging his teeth over Harry's earlobe. Harry lets out a strangled noise and grabs hold of Louis' hips, pushing his hips up to meet him and grinding hard. Louis rolls his hips down so that their crotches rub together instead, burying his face in Harry's neck and letting out a long whine.

Harry picks up the pace, using his hold on Louis' hips to move him the way he wants him, rocking both of their hips quickly. It doesn't take long until Louis moans out loudly and shudders in Harry's arms, coming hard in his pants. The way he bites down on Harry's neck right after has him following quickly, holding Louis in place and rutting up against him for a moment.

Louis slumps against him when they're finished, keeping his face tucked into Harry's neck. Harry can see the movie screen from his position so he doesn't see a reason to move any time soon, wrapping his arms around Louis' smaller frame and holding him close.

When the movie finally ends a bit later, Louis is sound asleep in Harry's lap and Harry can feel a trickle of drool on his shoulder. He tries to ignore that bit as he rearranges Louis to lay across the backseat, improvising with the seat belts to keep him safe and then crawling up to the driver's seat. He drives home carefully, going slow and trying to avoid the holes in the road, because if he wakes Louis up Louis will be pissed.

He carries Louis inside when they finally reach their building, rocking him like a child while they ride up in the elevator to their flat. Louis wakes up while Harry is undressing him to get him in bed, but he just lets out a long breath and lets Harry continue manhandling him into his pajamas. He waits patiently on his side of the bed while Harry strips down as well, climbing in beside him and cuddling up close. The camera records from the side table until the battery dies, long after they're both asleep.

 

**May 4 // 3:18 PM**

 

Harry turns the camera on in the kitchen, letting it get a shot of all the papers and textbooks spread out over the table and scattered on the floor. He walks over to the living room next to show a similar scene, torn notebook pages thrown around like confetti, covered in Louis’ messy handwriting.

“Lou had a bit of a freak out earlier,” Harry tells the camera, his voice quiet like he doesn’t want to be heard. “His first final is tomorrow morning, and he’s going to pass it, he’s amazing at it, but he’s just so nervous,” he sighs, letting the camera linger on the mess in the living room for a moment before he starts down the hall. There’s a trail of note cards to the bedroom door, which is wide open, meaning Harry can see right in as soon as he steps up to the doorway.

Louis is sitting amongst a sea of note cards all spread out over the bed, looking over them like he’s playing the most stressful memory game in the world. His hair's a mess, sticking up in every direction and a little bit greasy like he’s been touching it a lot. Harry knows he tugs at it when he gets stressed like this, and it’s not good, but Harry knows better than try and get him to calm down, because he’ll just have his head bitten off. Again.

“How’s it going?” He asks quietly from the doorway. Louis jumps like he’s heard a gunshot instead of his boyfriend’s soft voice, note cards fluttering to the ground around him.

“Dammit, Harry,” Louis growls, scrambling to collect all of his fallen cards. Harry feels a bit bad, but then again, Louis is completely overreacting and freaking himself out about nothing.

“Can I help you study?” He asks hopefully, because sometimes when Louis lets him quiz him on things Harry can reassure him that he knows everything there is to know, and can usually get him to calm down. Louis doesn’t seem like he’s about to give in to him, though, glaring at Harry from under his dirty fringe. “Can I at least convince you to take a break and eat a snack, or something? All you’ve had today is a bowl of cereal,” he says carefully, like Louis is a landmine that he’s two inches from falling on.

“No, I just need to keep going,” Louis mutters, looking down at his cards again and whispering something to himself before flipping the card over. He lets out a soft breath and tosses the card into the pile to his right, immediately picking up another card and staring at it for a few seconds.

“See, you got that one right! And there’s hardly any in the wrong pile, you’re gonna be fine,” Harry assures. He moves toward the bed and reaches out to rearrange a few cards so he can sit down, but Louis flips.

“Don’t touch them!” He shrieks, slapping Harry’s hand away and pushing at the air between them, like if he pushes hard enough he can push Harry right out of the room. “Just get out, please, you’re so distracting. And lose the camera, I’m fucking sick of it,” he snarls.

And, well. Harry knows he’s under a lot of stress; he’s wanted to be a lawyer since he was little and this is everything to him right now. And Harry also knows that Louis tends to lash out when he’s hurt or angry, and especially when he’s stressed, but the knowledge doesn’t make it easier to deal with the abuse that comes with Louis’ mood.

“Louis, you’re acting like a child. I’m only trying to help you,” he says. He relaxes his arm holding the camera, less worried about the shot he’s getting at this point, so the only thing the camera can see is a sideways view of Louis looking like he’s about to boil over.

“I don’t need your help,” Louis sighs, his voice frustrated, looking back down at the card in his hand and trying to focus on reading it.

“Okay, fine, then I’ll stop offering. But I’m worried about you, you need to take a break,” Harry demands lightly, and Louis loses it.

He slams the card in his hand down onto the bed and stands up, stalking toward Harry quickly. Harry snaps the camera back upright and starts to back out of the room, but Louis just keeps chasing him.

“Get. The fuck. Out. And take that _fucking_ camera with you!” Louis shouts, herding Harry all the way to the door of their apartment and pushing him out into the hallway. He shuts the door in his face and locks it, and Harry sighs as he lets his head fall forward against it.

His own first final isn’t until Wednesday, and he’s confident enough about the material that he doesn’t need to study much more before then. He’s been trying to keep up with Louis, but since Louis’ first final is earlier in the week and is so relevant to his major, Louis has been putting in amounts of effort that Harry didn’t even know he possessed. Louis is always really passionate about everything, though, especially this, so it really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

He decides to go for a walk while he’s locked out of the apartment, just enough money in his pocket to pick up some greasy fast food or something on his way home to try and win Louis back over with. A good take away Chinese meal is usually enough to get Louis out of the deepest of his funks, and Harry knows just the place across town to get it from.

He talks quietly to the camera as he walks, speaking his inner monologue, which is mostly just wishing that Louis would loosen up right now. He records his feet walking on the pavement for a while, until finally he gets to Louis’ favorite Chinese restaurant with the best take away rice around.

He orders their usual meals and then turns around to walk back home, hugging the bag in one arm and holding the camera in the other. He takes his time, because the food stays warm for ages in the fancy packaging they use at this place, and Louis usually stays bitter for at least a few hours after they fight.

When he gets back home it’s nearing 5:30 in the evening, and all he has to do is knock softly on the door before Louis pulls it open.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Louis says immediately, nuzzling into Harry’s chest. “I’m just really stressed out. But I’ve heard it’s good to take study breaks every now and again to let your brain rest, so. Is that Chinese?”

Harry chuckles and nods, letting Louis pull away and take the camera from him. “It is. Figured we might need a peace offering, or something,” he shrugs, walking to the kitchen and waiting for Louis to move some of his papers out of the way so he can set the bag down. He takes out their separate containers of food and lets Louis lead him to the couch, where they snuggle up and turn on a movie.

Harry can tell that Louis isn’t paying attention at all and that he’s itching to get back to studying but he makes him wait until their food is gone, and by then Louis is almost too full and sleepy to move. Almost.

“I should get back to work,” he sighs, trying to stand up, but Harry keeps him in place. He rattles off a few of the things Louis was struggling with earlier and Louis answers them all without even flinching, and then finally lets himself relax back into Harry.

“You’re ready for this test,” Harry mumbles into his hair, ignoring the way it smells because Louis is more cuddly than he’s been in days and Harry never wants to move.

“I’m ready for this test,” Louis concedes, but he still insists on keeping all of his note cards in order when he cleans them up off the bed a few minutes later. He arranges them carefully on the desk and then climbs into bed with Harry, finally shutting the camera off once the lights are out and they’re wrapped up in one another.

 

**May 11 // 12:36 PM**

 

Harry starts the video just in time to catch Louis settling down on the couch with his laptop, bottom lip white between his teeth. Harry is sitting on the other end of the couch, facing him, and he stretches his legs out far enough to brush Louis’ knee gently.

They’ve been done with school for some time now, finals finished a weekend ago. Today is the day they get to see their scores online, though, and see once and for all if they’ll be able to graduate at the end of the month. They flipped a coin earlier to see whose grades they would check first, and after landing heads two out of three times, it was decided that they would check Harry’s first.

“Let’s see,” Louis hums, reaching to the coffee table for his glasses and sliding them onto his nose. “Okay, here. Styles, Harry E.,” he reads out professionally, smirking up at Harry over the rim of his glasses. “Building and Materials Construction Exam… passed,” he grins, and Harry cheers softly behind the camera. “Freehand and Digital Drafting Exam, passed. Modern and Historical Architectural Styles Exam, passed. Environmental Systems Exam, passed. And, last but not least, Architectural Design Exam,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “perfect score.”

Harry lets out a loud whoop, springing up off the couch and running a lap around it. Louis laughs and snatches the camera out of his hand while he does it, before handing over both the camcorder and the laptop when Harry gets back on the couch.

“Alright,” Harry breathes out, getting himself situated with the camera in one hand, focused on Louis, typing with the other hand. “Tomlinson, Louis W. Hm,” he glances down the list of Louis’ final exams, letting his face fall a bit behind the camera. “Oh, Louis…”

“What?” Louis says immediately, sitting up straighter on the couch. Any and all emotion is gone from his face, ready for an absolute breakdown. “What?” He hisses a moment later, when Harry is still just sitting there staring at the screen.

“You… Shit,” Harry breathes, scrubbing a hand down his face like it’s bad news. Louis literally looks like he’s about to break in half, and Harry finally relents. “You got perfect scores. On every, fucking, test,” he grins, punctuating each word with a gentle kick to Louis’ kneecap.

Louis stares at him for a long moment before he lets out the breath he was holding, slumping against the back of the couch. Harry laughs loudly behind the camera, setting it down on the coffee table and crawling across the couch to pull Louis into his arms.

“I’m so proud of you,” he smiles into Louis’ neck, laughing breathlessly. “God, Louis, perfect scores on every single exam.”

“Oh God,” Louis laughs brightly, his voice sounding like he’s two seconds away from tears of joy. “Let’s- shit. Call the boys, I wanna get trashed,” he murmurs, reaching for the camera. He holds it up close to his face and lets out a little shriek of happiness, beaming at the lense. “I’m gonna graduate uni!” He cheers, giving the camera an excited little jostle before shutting it off.

 

**May 20 // 4:27 PM**

 

Harry's mom is squashed in between her own daughter and the Tomlinson's with her son's camcorder in her hands, recording the graduation ceremony. She started recording when they got to the S's, so it didn't have random classmates of theirs taking up all the space on the device. After the cheering for Lisa Stubbs dies off, the Dean clears her throat.

"Majoring in Architecture, Harry Styles," she smiles, the next wave of applause coming just as Harry walks up the stairs to shake her hand and take his paper. His eyes go straight to his and Louis' families, and he shares a wave before he changes the direction of his tassel and walks back off with a smile on his face.

Anne sniffles from behind the camera. "Look at my baby."

Jay nudges her slightly, leaning in to whisper something the microphone doesn't pick up. They talk for long enough that it seems as if Louis was called up right after Harry. There's a louder cheer coming from the graduates, presumably Harry cheering on his boyfriend, trying to say that all the stress was worth it and it's only going to get better from there. Louis takes his diploma and shakes the Dean's hand, changing his tassel and sending a wink their families' way. The camera catches the big smile on his face as he goes down the stairs to sit with the rest of the kids and the way his mother is tearing up beside Anne. She thinks that she should probably turn off the camera now, considering that their sons are officially graduated and both of them are crying.

 

**May 20 // 5:11 PM**

 

“We’ve just tossed our caps, so it’s official! Harry and I are done with school forever!” Louis smiles, bringing Harry in closer to him. Harry wraps his arm around Louis’ waist, getting his whole body in the shot, his robe unbuttoned to reveal his white dress shirt and black tie.

“No more homework, no more teachers, no more classes or annoying people,” Harry says, counting on his fingers. He stops and grins cheekily. “More time to spend with you,” he sings, snuggling up to Louis, making his cheeks turn pink.

Louis hums quietly, smiling, and angles his head so he can peck Harry on the lips. Harry’s hand slides up to caress his neck before he dips Louis down and snogs him in front of their parents, who decide to show up just then after mingling with some of the faculty and parents. When Harry brings him back up, Louis stumbles over his feet for a moment before coming back to reality and realizing the situation. His face goes hot with embarrassment and his chest thumps wildly when he sees both of their mothers and the rest of their families staring at them, disapproving.

Harry smiles proud and cocky, lips wet and eyes sparkling. He listens to his mother chide him for the PDA while Louis buries himself into Harry's side, laughing softly and trying to hide his growing blush.

“C’mon then, lovebirds, we’ve got a reservation in an hour for your celebration dinner,” Jay says finally, once Louis has emerged from inside Harry’s robe and they’ve both hugged all their family members.

Harry takes the camera so that Louis can be led off by the older set of twins, each girl taking one of his hands and running to the exit, causing Louis to jog to keep up. Harry laughs behind the camera, walking along behind with the rest of their combined family, zooming in on Louis and the girls.

“He’s gonna be such a good dad someday,” he sighs dreamily, and then jumps when Gemma groans in disgust beside him.

“Would you two just get married already and get out of everyone’s face? You’re too cute for the rest of us,” She mutters, shaking her head when Harry blushes.

“Did I say that out loud?” He asks, genuinely serious, blushing harder behind the camera when Gemma just rolls her eyes at him.

The camera catches it when Louis turns around to look for them, waving his free hand as if telling them to hurry up while the twins both tug at his other. Harry laughs and starts to run to keep up, passing the camera off to Gemma. She records it as Harry catches up, grabbing Louis’ free hand in his own. One of the twins runs over to Harry’s other side and takes his hand, and then the two of them start pulling the couple through the parking lot and toward their waiting cars. Gemma ends the video there, too distracted by the chaos of getting into the cars to keep filming.

 

**May 20 // 9:47 PM**

 

Gemma turns the camera back on when they’re all done with dinner, seated around a big round table in some fancy restaurant. She zooms in on Louis and Harry, who are across the table from her and are also blissfully unaware that they’re being watched.

Louis has his head on Harry’s shoulder and Harry has his arm wrapped around him, looking down at him sideways with this look on his face like Louis is the best thing he’s ever seen. They’re talking quietly about something that the camera can’t hear, but if the smile on Louis’ face is anything to go by, it’s something incredibly mushy and sincere.

“Look how gross they are,” Gemma mutters from behind the camera, zooming in even closer on them. “That’s my gross baby brother, and his gross best friend turned boyfriend,” she sighs, focusing the camera on the little double chin Harry gets when he looks down at Louis like this. “I don’t know when you two losers are gonna watch this video, but when you do, I hope you’re still as happy as you are right now. Like, I hate you both and I kinda wanna puke looking at you, but you’re perfect for each other and that’s never gonna change.”

She zooms back out and sighs loudly, keeping the camera focused on the couple. “Look at me, getting all mushy too. I fucking hate you guys. Congrats on graduating,” she laughs, letting the camera linger on them for a second longer before ending the video.

 

**May 27 // 4:38 PM**

 

It was Harry’s mom’s idea to set up the camera on a tripod in the backyard during the graduation party, so that the guests could come over as they pleased to leave a little video message for Harry and Louis to watch back someday. So far it’s only been both of their mother’s sniffling and wiping their eyes while they reminisced about changing diapers and telling bedtime stories, and then Louis’ little sisters with an improvised song about how great they are. Gemma keeps begging out of it with the excuse that she left something on the camera the night of the actual graduation, and Louis’ older younger sisters keep theirs short and sweet.

Some aunts and uncles and distant friends leave their own thoughts and congratulations throughout the afternoon, but as it gets later, their close friends start leaving messages.

Liam goes first, stepping up so close to the camera that his face is literally the only thing in the shot. He just smiles for a few minutes before he starts talking, words just the slightest bit slurred.

“You guys,” he starts out, pausing and just smiling at the camera for another moment. “You guys are the greatest couple. You’re pretty rude and you never stop touching each other long enough to hold a full conversation, but I love you both anyway and I’m really glad we all graduated together. I’m also really happy you finally got together, and not just because I won the pool. I bet it would happen before uni ended, Niall said after, and Zayn said you never would and would go on to regret it the rest of your lives,” he grins widely, and then two hands come out of nowhere and push him out of the shot.

“Alright, alright, you’ve said enough, it’s my turn,” Niall says, stepping into view of the camera. He stares at the lense for a minute and then downs the rest of whatever drink he has in his hand, tossing the cup over his shoulder. Liam squeaks off camera but Niall ignores him, a smile growing on his face.

“Lads!” He begins, opening his arms wide like he’s going to hug the camera. He doesn’t, but it’s a near thing. “I may have lost the bet, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy for ya. I’ve caught ya fucking way too many times, and you’re gross as hell when you’re in the same room together, but I love ya both to pieces and you know that. I don’t think I woulda survived uni without the both of you as friends, so thanks for that. Louis, you’re a piece o’ shit, but you’re one o’ my best mates and I think ya always will be. And Harry, you’re an even bigger piece o’ shit and you always smell like fuckin’ flowers but you make me laugh all the damn time, and you’re the best cook I’ve ever known. I think that’s the end of me speech there, guys, sorry it was so short, but here’s Zayn,” he says, blowing a showy kiss toward the camera before stepping off to the side.

Zayn steps up the camera and smiles shyly, arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t know how far in the future you’ll be watching this video, but I know that no matter how long it’s been, you guys will still be just as in love as you are in this minute. I can see you guys cuddling on the deck in my periphery and it’s pretty disgusting, yeah, but it would just be wrong if you weren’t. I love you guys, and I wish you the best, but I think you already have it,” he says, grinning his squinty eyed grin and giving a short wave before stepping out of shot. The camera sees the three of them walk off together a few minutes later, probably to find more drinks, and the camera stays rolling until the end of the night, when Anne finally comes over to say goodnight and shut it off.

 

**June 1 // 4:23 PM**

 

Harry’s face is too close to the lense to be the first thing in the shot, but. He zooms out to show that he’s standing behind Louis who’s in a nice black suit, the height difference quite obvious with Harry’s neck in Louis’ eyeline.

"Here's Louis getting ready for dinner," Harry points out, stepping beside him. He nudges his shoulder with his hand, and Louis turns around to face him. “Looking quite handsome, if I do say so myself.”

Louis smiles down at his feet for a moment, before he looks back up at Harry through the camcorder and flicks his hair. “Thanks, Harry.”

Harry smiles and sets the camera down on the dresser and flips the screen so he can see what's being recorded, their bodies in the shot clearly.

“We have a nice, fitting suit on Loueh,” Harry says dramatically, hand coming out to pat at his shoulder. His fingers trace the little pocket on his chest, “a couple of sequence just to show the Elton John kinda style.” He moves onto his tie, “red to bring out a nice bit of color within the shirt.”

“But it’s not like any old tie,” Louis says, holding the tie in between his fingers while Harry continues on with the outfit.

Harry bends at the knees to get a good view of his shoes. “Nice pair of-”

“Uh, hello!” Louis exclaims, eyebrows raised.

“Oh?” He says, taking the tie in his own hands, fiddling around with it.

“More like a scarf kinda material,” Louis comments, pleased that Harry finally acknowledged his tie.

The tie falls from his hands back against Louis’ white shirt. He gestures to Louis' suit jacket next, pulling at the lapels. “Nice, um, nice tucked in there and then, it fits his shape really well. Kinda tucks in around the waist and then, you know.” He turns Louis around by the shoulder so he’s looking in the mirror while the camera and Harry get a view of his arse and pulls up the tail of his jacket. “And it fits tightly around there as well, which is brilliant.”

Louis turns back around with a tight lipped smile on his face and smooths down his pants before he takes over. “Harry has gone for a rather more casual look.” He slides his hand in between the blazer and white t-shirt, fingers hovering over his nipple.

“I’m not finished yet, though,” Harry pouts, creases in his forehead showing.

“He’s not finished yet, however he is wearing a very nice Jack Wills top.” Louis glides his thumb over his nipple, almost not touching it, and Harry fidgets his feet making Louis smile. He huffs out a little breath, “Uh, he’s also gone for a nice blazer that fits around these-” he pats down on his shoulders “-fantastic, bust shoulders here.”

Harry sighs quietly and rolls his neck when Louis steps away from him. “Uh... nice shoes, nice trousers. And this, the trouser, the trouser, the trouser.” Louis bends a little, splaying his fingers across Harry’s covered knee, he teasingly goes up Harry’s leg before he taps him hard enough in the crotch to have Harry bending over. Harry rests his hands on his knees, groaning while Louis takes the camera laughing.

“Straight in the balls, that’s what I’m talking about.”

 

**June 1 // 9:22 PM**

 

After a drunken night at Rosso and a sobering walk in the park, they consider their 6 month anniversary dinner a success. Harry turns the camera on in the elevator on the way up to their flat, getting them both in shot. Louis is pressed up against Harry’s front, head tucked into his neck, kissing lazily at his neck while Harry runs his free hand up and down his spine in long, lethargic motions.

“You seem sleepy, love,” Harry chuckles into Louis’ hair, and Louis makes the softest of noises.

“I am. Wanna take a bath, I think,” he mumbles, before latching his lips back onto Harry’s skin and suckling again. He leaves a nice little bruise before the elevator dings and the doors open, and Harry leads him breathlessly down the hall.

“Bubbles or bath bomb?” Harry asks, handing the camera off to Louis while he searches his pockets for the key, unlocking the door to their flat. Louis does his best to hold the camera steady, following Harry inside once the door is open.

“Bubbles. I don’t like your bath bombs, they leave the floor all sticky when I get into the shower the next day,” he says, following Harry right to the bathroom. The bath is nothing spectacular, just a small rectangle that they both barely fit in with their legs bent. It makes baths much more romantic, though, when they’re pressed together the way they have to be.

He puts the camera down on the counter and reaches into the bath to turn on the water while Harry rummages under the sink for the bubble soap, pulling out two different bottles. “Coconut or strawberry?” He asks Louis, waving both bottles around until Louis looks.

“Coconut, it makes your skin really soft in bed after,” he decides, stripping off his clothes lazily and leaving them in a pile by the door.

Harry puts away the pink bottle and pops open the brown one, pouring some of the white liquid into the tub where the water is pouring. The bubbles start forming immediately and Harry puts that bottle away too, before taking off his own clothes and dumping them with Louis’. He climbs into the bath while it’s still filling, opening his legs, and bending his knees just a bit so he can fit all in with his back against the wall. Louis steps in after him and fits himself between Harry’s legs, leaning back against his chest and putting his head down. They sit in quiet until Louis has decided the bath is full enough, almost spilling over the sides, and reaches forward to turn the water off.

“Can’t believe we’ve been dating for six months,” Harry hums when Louis leans back against him, wrapping his arms around his narrow chest. “Feels like it’s only been a few weeks.”

“Well, they say time flies when you’re having the time of your life,” Louis replies, a small smile on his face that only the camera can see. Harry hums in acknowledgement and they fall back into quiet peace, bodies soaking in the tub.

Harry starts running his hands over Louis’ body after a while, cupping the soapy water in his palms and smoothing it over Louis’ chest and shoulders. Louis seems to melt a little more with every pass of Harry’s hands on his skin, until he’s drooped so much in the water that he’s down to his neck and his knees are sticking out.

“If you go down any further I’m gonna lose you,” Harry chuckles, hooking his hands under Louis’ arms to pull him back up, so that the back of Louis’ head is resting right in the center of his chest.

“Mm, if you keep touching me like that you’ll never lose me,” Louis mumbles back, sounding a bit like he’s in a trance. Harry laughs softly and his hands slip back under the water, disappearing out of sight of the camera. Louis gasps softly a moment later, letting out a tiny whimper as his eyes open.

“Like that?” Harry mutters in his ear, and Louis nods slowly. The camera can only see the way Harry’s bicep is working just slightly and the way Louis is starting to fall apart in Harry’s arms, tilting his head back against his chest and letting out the prettiest noises. Harry just smiles down at him and the movement of his arm speeds up a bit, making Louis squirm. Finally Louis stills and shudders, letting out the loudest moan yet and then relaxing completely against Harry’s chest. Harry just grins and holds him for a moment, until Louis gets his bearings and turns around in the water.

He stays between Harry’s legs but leans in to kiss him languidly, hand moving down between them. His arm starts moving slowly, gradually gaining speed, the kiss getting dirtier in correlation. Harry holds onto Louis’ hips in the dissipating bubbles and moans against his lips, body moving just enough to send tiny waves of water splashing over the sides of the tub. Their landlord will kill them for it, probably, but neither of them can spare a thought for it right now. After another few minutes Harry’s body tenses and he goes silent, breaking away from the kiss as his face screws up with pleasure. Louis watches him with hooded eyes until Harry’s open again, and then they just look at each other for a few minutes.

“Water’s getting cold,” Louis comments, and Harry chuckles and nods.

“A bit dirty, as well. We should get out,” he sighs, pecking one more kiss to Louis’ lips before releasing him. Louis stands up carefully and gets out of the tub while Harry flicks the stopper with his toe, standing up in the diminishing water.

Louis wraps himself in a towel and grabs the camera from the counter, giggling softly at it. “We’re so bad at this, we always forget about the camera,” he comments, turning around to look at Harry while the other boy grabs himself a matching towel and dries his hair.

“Who says I forgot about it?” He says cheekily, emerging from under the towel and grinning at Louis. Louis rolls his eyes but he can’t keep the smile off his own face, turning around to leave the bathroom.

“You’re such a dick,” he says, once he’s in the hallway, peeking the camera back into the doorway of the bathroom to get a shot of Harry bent over, drying his legs and feet.

“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” he answers, looking up and winking at the camera before Louis pulls it back.

“Yeah, I suppose I do,” Louis says softly, smiling at the camera for a moment before shaking his head and turning it off.

 

**June 9 // 1:34 PM**

 

The camera sits on a tripod and records Harry scribbling away on a large piece of white paper, splayed out across a table in an unfamiliar office. His hair is pulled up in bun and he's dressed in a loose Green Bay Packers shirt and black jeans, his bun bouncing while he looks back and forth between the laptop and the paper.

"I made a blueprint for my ideal house before I graduated," Harry tells the camera, looking over to the laptop. "So, now I'm busy retouching that design and making a digital draft of the house," he says straightening his back after he finishes typing a few numbers.

He scratches off _two bedrooms and two floors_ from the paper and tosses his pencil down, sighing and taking a seat in front of it all. He stares at it for a few moments before he looks back up at the camera, smiling widely.

“I also got a job with a real company. I did a bit of interning with them during uni and they’ve decided to take me on full time,” he says excitedly, wiggling happily in his seat. “And they’re going to be helping me build mine and Louis’s dream home,” he explains. “I’m not telling him about it until right before his birthday, and then I’m gonna surprise him and we can have our first Christmas together there,” he grins.

He sighs when he’s done talking, looking back down at his papers. “Right now I’m trying to figure out how much space we can afford with the money my grandparents are loaning me, and trying to fit it on the land my parents helped me pick out. I’ve got a few people helping me out but they’re all on their lunch break at the moment, so I’m alone,” he hums, scribbling something on the paper and then typing something on the laptop.

He works quietly for a few minutes before he looks up again, seemingly staring off into space. “Oh, I think they’re coming back,” he says, getting up from his chair and walking to the camera. “So I’m gonna turn this off, because they seem to get distracted by it. Dunno when I’ll record again, so bye for now!” He says cheerfully, pressing the button to stop recording and taking the tripod down.

 

**June 14 // 3:13 PM**

 

Harry turns the camera on and aims it at Louis, who is sitting at the kitchen table with his glasses perched on his nose, staring at his laptop. Every few seconds he types something and then scrolls a little bit, and Harry walks over to sit down across from him.

“Hey Lou,” he hums happily, zooming in on Louis’ face when the boy barely glances at him.

“Hi,” he mutters distractedly in response, picking up the mug of tea on the table beside him and taking a slow sip while he reads over something on the screen.

“Watcha doin’?” Harry asks, nudging at Louis’ feet under the table with his own, though the camera doesn’t see it.

“Trying to get a job, what are you doing?” Louis sighs in response, clicking around a few times, before he finally looks up at Harry over the top of his computer screen.

“Thinking about how cute you look in those glasses,” he giggles, and Louis rolls his eyes fondly before he looks back down at the computer. “How goes the application process?” he asks a few minutes later when Louis still hasn’t looked back up at him, craving the boy’s attention. He’s been filling out applications to different law firms all day, and Harry just wants a minute of his time.

“This is the fifth one I’ve applied to, and I’m almost done. Kind of hard to concentrate when my boyfriend keeps distracting me, though,” he sighs, looking up at Harry again and letting his shoulders slump exaggeratedly.

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry whispers, getting up from the table to let Louis get his stuff done. “How many more applications are you gonna do, though? I miss you,” he confesses dramatically, and Louis lets out a grunt like Harry is absolutely the most annoying thing in the world as he looks up at him again.

“I have one more after this, and then I’ll come and do whatever you want to do, alright? Just please let me finish this,” he begs, and Harry starts backing away.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll be in the bedroom, come get me when you’re done, okay?” He asks sweetly, and Louis nods and waves him off before turning back to his work. Harry sighs and makes his way to the bedroom, plopping down on the bed and pointing the camera at his feet, wiggling his toes to some tune in his head and letting his mind wander.

He knows that Louis’ dream is to start his own firm and become really successful, and Harry knows that he’ll accomplish that, but he needs some experience first and that’s gonna take time, especially in this field. He also feels a bit bad that he got a full time job straight out of uni and Louis is still picking up hours whenever he can at Toys R Us and desperately applying to every local law firm. Louis would never hold that against him, he knows, but it still makes him feel a bit guilty when he watches how Louis puts his absolute all into everything he does.

He doesn’t voice any of that to the camera, instead deciding to just turn it off after a few more minutes of recording nothing.

 

**June 14 // 5:48 PM**

 

Harry turns the camera on as he’s curled up on the couch, recording Louis over the back of it. Louis is still sitting in the exact same position at the table, albeit his legs are tucked up under him now, tea gone cold beside him. Fifteen minutes ago he told Harry he’d be done in ten minutes, and Harry is about ready to scream.

“Lou,” he whines finally, when he really can’t help it. Louis jumps a little and sighs.

“One second, Harry. Literally just give me one second,” he snaps, and Harry falls silent again. It’s another minute and a half before Louis finally closes his laptop, dropping his glasses onto the table and rubbing at his eyes. Harry wriggles in anticipation and Louis shakes his head, getting up from the table and hobbling over to the couch.

He’s probably sore from sitting around at their crappy kitchen table all day, so Harry puts the camera down on the coffee table and forces Louis to stretch out along the couch on his stomach. He runs his hands over Louis’ spine for a few minutes and gets it to crack about ten times, smirking at the way Louis moans every time.

Eventually Louis reaches back and pulls his sweatpants about halfway down his arse and Harry grins, winking at the camera before reaching over to shut it off with one hand, his other hand pulling Louis’ pants the rest of the way down.

 

**June 29 // 11:23 AM**

 

The look on Louis' face practically says I'm up to no good, sharp teeth digging into the sensitive skin of his bottom lip, his eyes twinkling mischievously, his plucked eyebrows raised. He leans close into the camera and bites his lip harder. He's tucked in the corner of their bedroom, the faint sound of running water in the background.

"I'm gonna try to scare Harry while he's getting out of the shower," he whispers, pulling a wolf mask seemingly out of nowhere. "Niall gave this to me two years ago for Halloween. What a lad he is."

The water stops abruptly and Louis scrambles to his feet to put the camcorder in a place where it's going to record the whole scene, quickly getting back into the corner. The camera is balanced on top of the dresser that Louis is tucked behind, waiting for Harry to come into the room.

Harry walks in wrapped in a towel, but his phone starts ringing just as Louis is about to jump out. Harry picks it up and answers it after briefly checking who is calling, sitting down on the edge of the bed without removing his towel.

“Hello?” He asks cheerily, but his eyes grow concerned quicky. “Mum? What’s wrong?”

Louis presses himself firmly into the corner, putting a hand over his mouth so Harry won’t hear him breathing. He can see Harry from where he is, and so can the camera, but Harry clearly doesn’t see either of them.

“Wait, what do you mean by bad news?” He asks quietly into the phone, body tensing up slightly.

Louis feels like he’s intruding on something very private but he can’t get out now, because Harry will see him before he gets to the door and then he’ll be pissed that Louis was going to scare him.

Harry’s face falls a few seconds later, his body slumping. Louis feels his heart sink at the expression on his face, but he stays hidden because he doesn’t want to interrupt.

“How sick?” He asks, voice breaking in the middle. Louis bites down hard on his lip when Harry sighs, sounding very shaky. “Well is she gonna be okay?” He asks, letting out an involuntary little whimper a second later.

Anne talks for a moment on the other end of the line and Harry holds his hand over his mouth like he’s trying not to cry, and then he sniffles.

“Yeah, I’ll come visit this weekend then,” he says quietly. A few minutes later he hangs up and puts the phone down on the bed and starts to cry in earnest, hanging his head and letting his wet hair flop in his face.

Louis rushes out of his hiding spot and straight to Harry, who jumps and quickly wipes at his eyes.

“Hey, you’re okay,” Louis assures, sitting down on the bed with him and pulling him into his arms. Harry goes easily and lets himself start to cry again, face buried in Louis’ bicep.

Neither of them say anything for a while, camera completely forgotten about on top of the dresser, and then Harry pulls out of Louis’ arms to sit up.

“My grandma is sick,” Harry informs him, wiping at his tear stained face. “They’re not totally sure what’s wrong, but they don’t think she’s gonna make it much longer,” he whimpers, staring down at his lap and biting down hard on his lip.

“Oh, Haz,” Louis sighs, reaching out to draw Harry back into his arms. He presses his thumb against Harry’s mouth and Harry releases his lip, the color returning to it quickly. “I’m so sorry,” Louis whispers into his hair, because he doesn’t know what else to say to make this easier for Harry and he just wants him to know that Louis is here for him.

Harry just sniffles a little and lets Louis hold him for a while more, until finally he sits up with a confused frown on his face. “What were you doing behind the dresser?” He asks, voice weak from all the crying.

“Oh,” Louis mutters, chuckling a little bit. “I was um, I was gonna scare you when you got out of the shower. I had Niall’s wolf mask,” he explains, pointing to where the mask is lying on the floor in the corner. “But obviously, it didn’t work out,” he mumbles, shrugging his shoulders.

Harry laughs at that, soft and still kinda sad, but it’s still a laugh. “I love you,” he whispers, looking up at Louis with red eyes and redder lips. His hair is super curly from being left to dry on its own, puffed up over his head like a giant cotton ball.

“I love you more,” Louis hums, reaching out to try and smooth Harry’s hair down. Harry just grabs his hand and kisses his wrist before he gets up to put some clothes on, and Louis jumps up to grab the camera off the dresser and shut it off.

 

**July 2 // 3:29 PM**

 

Louis walks with Harry to his car, their feet tramping over puddles that reflect the sunlight. There’s a feeling surrounding them that the camera doesn’t pick up. Harry’s going to see his family for a few days to catch up with and check on everyone, leaving Louis at the apartment alone until he comes back.

“I’ll miss you,” Louis tells him quietly, bringing the camera to look at Harry, squinting his eyes in the sun.

Harry nods, hands coming up to rub at Louis’ biceps. “You’ll be okay, though. It’s just a few days, baby, you know. I gotta do it.”

Louis understands but at the same time he doesn’t want to be alone and without Harry. “I know, Harry.”

“I’ll miss you, too, but I’ll be back in the blink of an eye.” Louis blinks and Harry smiles, leaning in and kissing him on the forehead. He pulls back and gets out his keys, opening the drivers door and tossing the sleepover bag into the passengers seat. Louis follows his motions with the camera, but his eyes stay on Harry. Harry kisses him hard one last time before getting into the car and starting it. Louis gets out of the way, the car inches away from touching his knee, Harry honking the horn quick before driving away cautiously.

“There he goes,” Louis sighs dramatically, eventually heading back inside, taking the stairs instead of the elevator and closing the door of their place. He sits on the couch and looks at the camera, his lips pressed into a line. “What now?”

His phone rings a minute after the question is asked, ironically, and Louis fumbles with the papers on the coffee table to find it. He finds it and answers it, the voice on the other end talking first.

“Tonight?” He asks, sitting up a bit straighter. “Yeah. Is it just you and Sophia or is Zayn coming too?”

Louis stands up and heads in the direction of the bedroom, he walks in and it looks so empty without Harry napping in the bed or his mess on the floor. He has a sudden urge to cry, chest feeling tight so he takes that as a sign to go with his friends and have something take his mind off the absence of his boyfriend.

“We’ll meet you there, then. Okay, bye.” He hangs up the phone and sets it down on the bed, laying down after it. “So, I’m gonna hang out with Zayn while Liam and his girlfriend eat each other. This should be fun!”

He rolls his eyes and shuts off the camera.

 

**July 2 // 5:50 PM**

 

“I wasn't gonna do anything to be quite honest with you guys,” Louis shrugs and takes another drink from his styrofoam cup. They’re mini golfing while the sun is busy setting. Liam is in the lead and Louis' in last, no surprise there. Zayn has the camera pointed at Louis and Sophia, both dressed in black skinny jeans and white shoes, and Louis' got a thin white Adidas hat on over his messy hair and he has a bit of scruff around his mouth.

"Well, we're still here with you," Liam says from the side of them. He's setting up his ball, taking a tiny swing, sending the yellow ball rolling across the green turf and down a mini slope where it rests two inches away from the hole.

Louis curses him the background, making the only girl giggle quietly. He sets up his red ball, getting concentrated before hitting it, the ball going in the same direction as Liam's but actually going in the hole. Zayn swipes the camera to look back at Louis dancing with his cup in his hand while he laughs, and Liam looks surprised but pleased and Sophia stifles her laughter while setting up.

Full of pride, Louis walks over and gives Liam a strong pat on the shoulder while taking a drink and mumbles something to him, nodding his head in Sophia’s direction. It has Liam nodding along while listening intently, his eyes glued on her as she moves gracefully through the obstacles, coming to stand next to them on the bricks outlining the course.

“Here, I’ll take that from you,” she offers kindly, reaching her hand out to take the camera. Zayn transfers it carefully to her, her hazel eyes and long lashes prominent when the tall lamp lights flick on suddenly until she turns it to record the skinny boy setting up his pink ball and striking it with ease. It rolls next to Liam’s only a bit farther out, landing in between Sophia’s green ball and the yellow one. She pouts at him, “You blocked my shot.”

“Sorry, Soph.” Zayn laughs, shrugging carelessly.

“I can take that from you, if you want?” Louis says behind them. Liam left him to put the ball in on the second shot, Sophia handing over the camcorder to go take her turn, her ball hits off Zayn’s making it move only an inch. Liam joins him again, resting his hand on Sophia’s waist and kissing her temple softly.

“Look at the lovebirds,” Louis sings behind the camera. Sophia pushes her face into Liam’s neck while his hand rubs at her hip.

“You and Harry are worse, trust me,” Liam assures, the look on his face saying he’s seen some stuff.

Zayn finally get his ball in and stands up. “Yeah, oh my god, you can get nasty around us.”

Louis gawks at him. “We’re not that gross!”

“Oh really?” Zayn challenges. “What about that one time at Liam’s party two years ago when you were making out and all that shit. It was so gross.”

Louis nods and shrugs, wondering why they didn’t just get together then to spare themselves of the pent up feelings and everyone all the _'we’re not dating_ ’s. He smiles, zooming in on Zayn’s face when he says, “You should’ve been at the drive-in’s the other day if you wanted to see nasty.”

Zayn’s eyes widen and his mouth pulls back in a grimace, hunching his shoulders and making a screeching noise from the back of his throat.

“Oh my god!” Liam squeeks beside him, Louis zooms out and records his reaction; he’s covering his one ear and has his eyes tightly shut, head in Sophia’s shoulder.

Sophia rubs his shoulder lovingly. “Don’t let him fool you,” she says, winking and shaking her head.

Louis’ raises his eyebrows, a large smile on his face. “Liam! Why didn’t tell me about this side of you, you dirty dog.”

It turns into a mess of debating and loud words about who’s dirtier, Liam trying to claim innocence again and Zayn cringing and repelling the information he’s being exposed to. Louis shuts off the camera, and the last words to be heard are _I don't always carry it around!_

**July 5 // 2:07 AM**

Louis is sitting in bed in the dark, the camera pointed directly at his face. He’s staring in the other direction like he’s trying to listen for something, eyes wide in the dark.

“I think someone’s breaking in,” he whispers, so quietly the camera barely even catches it. “Fuck, I don’t have any kind of weapon in here. I’m gonna die,” he breathes, flinching at the faraway sound of a cupboard swinging closed in the kitchen.

“Oh my god, Harry’s gonna come home in the morning and find me dead in our bed,” he whispers, silently climbing out from under the covers and creeping over to the wardrobe to look for something to arm himself with. “I’m bringing this camera so that if I die maybe there’ll be video evidence of my murderer.”

He comes out of the wardrobe with part of the bar that the hangers are supposed to hang on, which broke a few weeks ago and they haven’t bothered to fix yet. He puts the camera down just outside the doorway to the bedroom with a clear shot down the hall and into the living room, before he sneaks out the door.

The ruckus in the kitchen doesn’t stop as Louis creeps down the hall, poking his head around the corner into the kitchen. He raises his weapon and then quickly flicks on the light, making to run at the intruder and hit them with the pole.

The camera hears the intruder yell, “Louis! Louis, it’s me!” and then Louis stops dead in his tracks, the pole still held above his head, ready to strike.

“Harry!” Louis cheers, dropping the pole to the ground and bouncing excitedly. “You’re back early!”

The camera can just barely see him around the corner of the wall but it manages to catch the two arms that wrap around his waist, holding him close.

“Was gonna surprise you, wake you up with kisses,” Harry hums, his head appearing in the shot when he hooks his chin over Louis’ shoulder.

“I thought you were a burglar. Thought you were gonna come kill me,” Louis mutters, voice muffled where his face is pressed into Harry’s chest. Harry just laughs softly and holds him tighter, swaying their bodies back and forth.

“Sorry I scared you,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to the side of Louis’ head and then pulling away from the hug. “Let’s get back to bed, okay?”

Louis nods and leads the way back down the hall to their bedroom, scooping up the camera on his way. Harry laughs again, taking it from his hand and pointing it at his own face.

“What, were you going to catch your own murder on tape? Very smart of you, Lewis,” he grins, turning the camera to look at Louis, who blushes slightly.

“Yeah, that was the plan. Now come on, come cuddle me, I’ve been left alone for far too long and we have some catching up to do,” he says, snatching the camera from Harry’s hands and shutting it off.

**July 7 // 9:14 AM**

The video starts with a shot of the dirt on the ground, before it turns over quickly to get Harry in the shot. He’s wearing a nice orange hard hat and a matching vest, smiling at the camera.

“So, I’m at the site for the new house,” he explains, turning around so that he’s still in one half of the shot with the other half filled up by the big hole in the ground behind him. “And this is where it’s gonna go.”

He repositions so that he’s behind the camera now, aiming it at the hole. “They’re getting ready to pour the foundation now, and then from there they’ll start building the actual house. We’ve all been here since seven this morning, watching this hole get dug, and it’s not very exciting yet but I can hardly contain myself.”

He walks over to where some guys are looking at the blueprint for the house, spread out on a makeshift table. He points out some different elements of the house to the camera, using a lot of architect jargon and big words in his excitement.

“There was an old house here a few days ago,” he explains, turning the camera back to where there’s a cement truck getting ready to pour cement. “But it had so many structural issues and mold problems that it was literally cheaper to knock it down and start again than to try and repair it. That’s why we were able to get it so cheap, because the lot is great but the house was a complete knockdown.”

The cement truck starts pouring the cement just then and some guys scurry around to make sure it’s all going right, smoothing the concrete into the places it needs to be. Harry keeps recording until the hole is filled with cement, the molds making it into a nice rectangular impression. “So this is our basement finished,” he grins, walking closer to get it in the shot. “And then we just have to build up from there. It’s going to be so great,” he sighs happily, turning the camera back to his face as he walks away from where all the men are now working.

“I just can’t wait until it’s finished and I get to bring Louis here and move in. Right now he thinks this is just any old job I’m working on, he doesn’t know that it’s all my design and that it’s going to be our house. He’ll know soon enough, though, and until then I’m just gonna have to keep keeping it a secret.”

Someone calls for him then, waving him over to where the blueprint is laid out. He calls back that he’ll be right there and then smiles at the camera one more time, before turning it off and running over to where he is needed.

**July 14 // 6:08 PM**

Louis has the camera in his lap, aimed up at Harry without the other boy’s knowledge. They’re in the car, the music on low, on their way to some secret little beach or something that Harry found out about and has been begging Louis to go to for weeks. They have a picnic packed in the back for when they get there, and then they’ll watch the sunset together and probably fuck in the car before they head home.

Right now it’s quiet, though, only the sound of Sam Smith’s voice filling up the car. Harry is singing along softly to the music, probably without even thinking about it. That’s why Louis turned the camera on, to record him. Louis’ always said that if the architect thing didn’t work out Harry could always fall back on a singing career, probably, because he’s got a beautiful voice and sometimes it’s the only thing that can wind Louis down in the middle of the night if he can’t sleep.

The camera can only see a corner of Louis’ face but he’s smiling, listening to Harry croon the words. They’re holding hands over the center console and Harry’s fingers drum the beat gently on the back of Louis’ hand, twitching in time with the melody.

“You say I’m crazy,” Harry sings softly, jaw moving visibly with the words. “‘Cause you don’t think I know what you’ve done.” He glances over at Louis then, randomly, and catches him smiling, smiling back at him until he looks down and notices the camera.

“Oh! I hate when you do that!” He shrieks, both of them laughing as Harry reaches over to snatch the camera from Louis’ lap. Louis squawks and fold forward to try and protect it but Harry manages to grab it, pulling it into his own lap. “You’re such a menace,” Harry chuckles, shaking his head and shutting the camera off without taking his eyes off the road.

**July 22 // 7:10 PM**

They’re walking up the driveway to Louis’ mom’s house, getting ready to babysit Ernest and Doris while Jay and Dan have a night out on the town. Harry’s off work but has to get up early the next day and Louis took off a shift at the toy store, not like it was a big deal or anything; he’s still waiting for a reply from one of the many firms he applied to.

Harry pans the camera to Louis jogging up to catch his mother at the door, pulling her in for a tight hug.

“Oi, Louis. Don’t squeeze me to death, I’ve got to go out still,” Jay jokes, patting her boy’s back. She looks behind him to Harry and her face lights up. “Oh, Harry! Come ‘ere, love.”

Harry smiles and wraps his arms around her, breathing in the smell of flowers and fruit. Louis’ in the background talking to Dan quietly. “How’re you Jay, haven’t seen you since the graduation party.”

She pulls away, laying a hand over her necklace. “We’ve all been well, the twins and Lottie and Fizzy, too. Thank you so much for coming out tonight, Dan and I really needed this,” she laughs, looking back at him and Louis. “Children are a handful, honey.”

Harry laughs, nodding his head, recalling all the times he and Louis have babysat all the children. “I’ve always loved being around your kids.”

“Ever since you and Louis started hanging out, they’ve all grown very fond of you. Especially Louis,” She smiles and Harry’s cheeks turn red. “Well, love, me and Dan better get going. Thank you so much, again.”

Dan comes up behind her, hand resting on her waist, “Ready to go?”

She nods and starts walking to the car, Dan stays behind and shakes Harry’s hand. “Thank you guys.”

“No problem, sir.”

Dan smiles and follows after Jay, getting in the car. Louis comes to stand beside Harry with Ernest and Doris in either arm and Harry wraps his arm around his waist, careful not to squish the baby closest to him. What a view that must be, Harry thinks. Dan pulls out of the driveway slowly and Jay waves at them, Louis bouncing the babies and telling them to wave bye to mommy and daddy. Ernest moves his arms up and down and squeals, a big toothless smile on his face while the car drives away and out of sight.

They head back into the house, Harry closing the door and locking it. Louis sets Ernest down in the bouncy chair while skillfully keeping Doris close to his chest, Ernest bending his chubby legs and making himself bounce, his attention being drawn to the rubber snake hanging from the arch above him. Louis takes a seat in the corner of the suede couch, Doris carefully placed on his shoulder. There’s cartoons on the television and toys on the floor; from Barbie dolls and building blocks to rattlers and stuffed animals, and Louis probably bought them all.

Harry takes a seat next to Ernest who immediately takes a liking to his curly hair, Harry showing the little baby’s hand petting his hair down. “He likes my curls,” He smiles brightly.

“Who wouldn’t love them?” Louis asks, grinning at him while patting the girl’s back lightly.

There’s a brash tug on his hair and he winces. “Oh no, don’t do that, please don’t do that,” he begs and sets the camera down, reaching behind him to take out the tiny hands from his hair. Louis snickers in the background, earning him a glare in return.

“He likes my curls,” Louis mimics, his voice deeper but not as smooth.

The tiny hands are freed from his hair with a sigh from Harry and a cry from Ernest, and Harry picks up the camera again just to shut it off.

**July 22 // 7:43 PM**

Ernest is fidgeting on Harry’s chest while Harry sits in the old recliner. Louis’ on the floor while Doris plays around beside him on the plush elephant shaped mat, a rainbow of toys hanging above her.

The babies are both about fifteen minutes past bedtime but neither Louis or Harry want to put them down, having far too much fun just playing with them. Ernest seems a lot sleepier than Doris, fussing every few seconds and rubbing at his big blue eyes with his chubby little fists. Harry holds the camera up so it can see the way Ernest yawns with his whole body, tensing up and then going lax on Harry’s chest. Harry smiles as the baby’s eyes start to droop and then finally close, hands balling into tiny fists in the material of Harry’s shirt as he finally falls asleep.

“Lou,” Harry whispers, and Louis looks up from the floor, cooing softly in the background of the video.

“Oh, look how cute! I think Dory’s getting sleepy too. Don’t move, I’m gonna bring her up to bed and then I’ll come back for him once she’s asleep so we don’t wake him,” he says, scooping Doris up off the floor and making his way upstairs with her.

Harry puts the camera down on the arm of the recliner and puts his head down, mindlessly watching the cartoons on the tv. The show that’s on right now is about a young girl that’s actually a doctor for toys, and the silly song they’re singing about eating good food is apparently enough to put him right to sleep.

Louis comes back downstairs about ten minutes later, the camera catching his hips and thighs coming into the room in the background, behind where Harry is asleep in the recliner. Louis picks up the camera and giggles softly behind it, zooming in on Harry’s sleeping face and then Ernest’s, tucked under Harry’s chin.

“This is literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” he says quietly, the smile evident in his voice. He settles down on the couch and turns down the volume on the tv, deciding to turn off Doc McStuffins and put on some random movie instead.

It’s not long before he starts feeling a bit tired himself and he turns off the camera before he falls asleep, lying lengthwise on the couch while Harry and Ernest keep snoozing in the recliner.

**July 22 // 11:39 PM**

Jay turns on the camera as soon as she manages to pry it out of Louis’ sleeping hand, getting a shot of both of them passed out in the living room.

“A night well spent for these two, I think,” she laughs softly, while Dan pokes Louis’ shoulder until he wakes up.

Louis looks confused, picking his head up and looking around for a moment before he sits up. He immediately looks over to where he last saw Harry, smiling when he sees that he and Ernest haven’t moved a bit.

Dan takes the camera from Jay while Louis gets up, walking over to Harry to wake him gently without waking Ernest as well. He presses a soft kiss to the tip of Harry’s nose and Harry’s eyes flutter open, staring at nothing for a moment before they focus on Louis.

“My parents are home, time for us to head out. Do you want me to take Ernie up to bed?” He asks, voice hushed, and Harry blinks at him before he shakes his head.

“No, no, I wanna do it,” he mumbles, getting up carefully and keeping the baby cradled to his chest. Dan makes sure to keep filming him as he makes his way upstairs, and then points the camera at Louis and Jay as they pick up the various toys scattered around the room.

“Here,” Dan says, getting Louis’ attention and handing him the camera. “Follow him. Something tells me you’ll want to see this,” he says, patting Louis’ shoulder and then taking his place helping Jay. Louis grins and then quietly creeps up the stairs, walking down the hallway to the nursery.

He stops in the doorway and films as Harry places Ernest down gently in the unoccupied crib, hearing only a little whimper from the baby before he snuffles quietly, apparently going back to sleep. Harry leans on the side of the crib and just watches him, a small smile on his face, before he crosses the room to check in on Doris.

Louis comes up behind him while he’s watching Doris’ eyelashes flutter, pressing a hand against his lower back and pointing the camera down at the baby. Harry doesn’t even jump, just leans back into Louis’ embrace, letting the smaller boy support most of his weight.

“I can’t wait to have kids,” Harry whispers, almost too quietly for the camera to hear.

“You’re gonna be such a great dad,” Louis murmurs in response, pressing a kiss to the side of Harry’s head.

“So are you. I wanna be a dad with you,” Harry says, words a little slurred like he’s drunk on drowsiness. Louis just laughs softly, hoping the camera can’t hear the way his heart threatens to flutter out of his chest.

“Me too, Hazza. Come on, then, let’s get out of here and let my parents get to sleep. Maybe I can convince them to let the twins come for a sleepover at our place soon,” he suggests, and Harry nods quickly.

“Yeah, love them. Love you,” he says, leaning up to kiss Louis’ lips softly.

Louis just laughs again, squeezing Harry tight before helping him to stand up straight. “Right, then, I’m driving home. Think you’re a bit drunk on babies,” he jokes, leading Harry out of the room.

They say goodbye to Jay and Dan and then climb into Harry’s car, Louis in the driver’s seat, and Harry holds the camera while Louis adjust the seat so that he can reach the pedals.

Harry falls asleep again on the way home with the camera still on in his lap, recording Louis the whole way home. When he finally pulls into the lot for their building he remembers the camera, chuckling softly and reaching over to turn it off before he attempts to wake Harry.

**August 15 // 12:46 PM**

Harry turns the camera on and then wipes the screen clean with the hem of his t-shirt, pointing it up to his face where there’s a smudge of dirt on his cheek. Behind him are the workers putting up the next thick piece of plywood and inside of the house people are on ladders, drilling long nails into each connecting block of wood.

“I haven't filmed in forever, but, we’re almost done with the framework of the house!” Harry cheers and flips the direction of the camcorder. The outline of the house shows just how big it’s going to be when it’s finally done. “Let’s get a closer look.”

He walks under the arch of wood to enter the soon-to-be house and turns the camera up to get all the details of the ceiling, some of the workers climbing across the beams to drill in certain places.

“The house is gonna be three floors: a basement, main floor and an upstairs.” His finger comes into the shot to point out the apex of the house, “plus a tiny attic but that doesn’t count as a floor. And there’s Jim sanding one of the beams. Hey Jim!”

Jim glances down at him, a smile evident while he continues doing his job. “Hey Harry.”

“What a nice guy.” Harry says and walks off the concrete shaking his head. He scopes out the lot once more before turning off the device and putting it back into his car.

**August 27 // 9:28 PM**

“We’re going to the Leeds festival, bitches!” Louis cheers once Harry opens the camcorder, Niall’s laugh quickly following. They’re in the back of Zayn’s old Jeep Wrangler, Niall in the passengers seat and all their camping equipment in the trunk.

“Niall said we should go a day early so we can get set up and whatnot before all the musical acts come,” Zayn pipes, stopping at a red light and nudging Niall. He blushes but looks proud of himself.

Louis leans up to his ear and mumbles not so quietly, "When do ya think they're gonna get together?"

Zayn continues driving but looks at Louis through the mirror and Niall speaks up. "Don't get me wrong, Zayn is beautiful, but I like meself a nice pair of boobs."

Harry hums, agreeing, and Louis smacks his arm. "What?" He questions, Louis' blurry face in the shot until he holds the thing still.

"Can you believe Harry thinks Zayn is prettier than me?" Louis asks incredulously. His eyes sparkle against the passing lamps while Harry smiles at him.

"You know I love you," Harry mutters leaning over to peck his pouty lips, Louis' hands immediately reaching up and holding him in place. "Lou," Harry tries, when Louis starts moving his hands south. He hears Niall say something about how Louis gets loud and then the radio gets turned up.

Louis seems to hear it too because his face changes from _I don't care_ to _I have a plan_. He takes the camera and sets it down in the extra space and proceeds to climb onto Harry's lap with a wink. "Just roll with it."

Harry "just rolls with it" when Louis starts rolling his hips in the slightest way and making these familiar needy noises, and he "just rolls with it" as he pitches in his own noises when Louis' moans get the tiniest bit louder. With the boy in his lap, he let's an actual moan slip and wishes he could take it back because he's definitely going to get shit for it. It's coming, he knows, when Louis' motions slow to a dull grind and he leans in.

"Didn't think you'd get into it, babe," he says honestly.

A thin layer of sweat lines his brow, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. "I'm a good actor," he claims.

Louis laughs and nods sarcastically. "Okay, Johnny Depp."

"Are you guys done fucking?" Zayn asks, the music lower. Louis' mouth drops open and he let's out an elongated _Harry_ , squeezing the boy's shoulder encouraging him to play along.

"Holy fucking hell," Niall sighs. There's napkins being thrown at them suddenly and Louis has to bite down on his own finger to hide his laughter.

"Thanks, mate," Harry says breathlessly.

"Fuck you," Niall mumbles looking out the window.

Louis reaches for the camera after he spits in one of the napkins and there's a _get out of my face_ and then a shout from Niall, the screen abruptly going black.

**August 28 // 6:14 AM**

"I have no clue why we're up so fucking early," Louis starts the video grumpily, his sunglasses in his hand and a thin red jacket over his shoulders.

There’s shuffling in the background and Harry talking quietly, “I wanted to go scope out everything before it got too crowded.”

“Are Zayn and Niall even up?” Louis asks, yawning so his words are heavily slurred, shaking his head afterwards.

“I hope so, it was Zayn’s idea afterall.”

There’s a jingling from outside their tent, someone trying to get in, hopefully one of the guys. Zayn’s head pops through the small opening at the bottom, his dark hair messy from sleep under a light gray beanie. He opens his mouth to say something, before he decides not to do it on his knees with his ass presented to the whole world. So, he drags the zipper up and scuttles into the tent with them. The tent is actually quite big to Louis but Harry’s got to rest on his knees and even then the top of his head touches the material and is a lump from the outside.

After Zayn gets in fully and closes the tent a little, he starts talking, “Niall’s passed out so, I don’t really wanna wake him up for a little exploring.”

The camera pans over Louis unimpressed face and lands on Harry who’s already looking at it with an apologetic expression. He shrugs at him.

Louis tosses the camera to Harry. “I’m going to sleep with Niall. Come and get us whenever.” It records him getting up and excusing himself in front of Zayn, opening the flap of the door and trudging over barefooted to the tent next to the one he was in. He’s back only 10 minutes later, sleepily but carefully unzipping the tent, a blond boy behind him. “He woke up,” is all he says, wiping his feet off before crawling over and into Harry’s lap, pouting and digging his face into Harry’s chest.

Niall pulls out the yellow lanyard from the pocket of his black skinny jeans and throws it around his neck. “How’s the camera?”

“Oh, it’s just a little scratched up. All good though,” Harry says, twisting it to see all the tiny little scrapes and cuts on it from when Niall pushed it out of Louis’ hand last night.

“Well, let’s get going then,” Zayn pipes, leaving the tent to stand next to Niall outside.

Harry pats Louis’ backside softly. “Up you get, baby.” Louis rolls out of his lap and squishes his face into the pillow with his arse in the air. Harry smacks his hand down on the muscle, making Louis yelp and hit his hand away.

“You fuckin’ wanker.” Louis sits up, his hair disheveled and he’s biting back a grin. He lunges at him and presses his mouth to his and wraps his arms around his neck.

“Okay, okay. We didn’t say ‘let’s fuck’. Come on guys,” Zayn groans popping back in.

Harry turns the camera to them. Louis’ pressed on top of him, Harry’s lips pulled into a smile, Louis coming back and kissing him every second. His finger slips on the power button, and shuts it off before it can get anything else.

**August 28 // 3:30 PM**

All four of them are gathered by a lamp pole, each of them holding on to a corner of the map Zayn picked up at one of the entrances. Louis’ got half of a hotdog hanging out of his mouth, there’s a full cup of beer in Niall’s hand and an opened cigarette box in Zayn’s hand. Louis watches Zayn’s movements as he pulls out a thin white stick and a lighter.

“Smart,” Louis says, finishing his food and wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin. There’s a convenient trash can right beside them that’s almost full already.

“They don’t allow the stuff in here, so I gotta disguise it,” He says gesturing to the box that reads Marlboro. Zayn lights it and plucks the joint from his mouth before he points to the map with the same hand. “Anyway, we’re camped out on the outskirts of section E in the Blue Valley site.”

“The Arena doesn’t open until five but we might want to go wait outside the entrance with the rest of the pile,” Niall sticks out his hand full of beer and uses his pinky to point at the green arrow on the paper. “AWOLNATION and Tyler, The Creator are going to be at stage 2.” They all look in the direction of the entrance and, seeing how big the pile already is, decide to fold up the map as best as they can and set off that way.

The sun burns bright, tanning the bare skin of Harry’s neck, but the breeze evens the heat out making the surroundings comfortable. Louis involuntarily squeezes Harry’s hand while they walk, a habit of his when they get around a large group of people. Their group tries to get as close to the main entrance as they can without bumping into semi-drunk people or starting a fight with an already drunk person. Harry kisses the top of Louis’ head once they’ve completely stopped, and Louis looks at him through his black sunglasses smiling.

“Love you,” Harry says casually, leaning down to peck his lips chastely. Louis goes up on his toes and uses their knotted hands a leverage, pulling his boyfriend down an inch to get a better angle.

He bites his lips softly and hums, “Yeah you do.”

Harry chuckles, rolling his eyes. “Don’t get too full of yourself, babe.”

“You’ll love me forever,” he assures as if he’s willing to bet his life on it.

Harry goes over the thoughts about forever and how long that is for thirty-three seconds before he actually says, “I’ll love you forever, yeah.”

They both know it’s true and it doesn’t matter how long forever actually is, they’ll be together. As scary as that thought could be, it’s not. Not for them, at least.

Suddenly, Niall jostles Harry’s arm, bouncing up and down. “Are you ready, Harreh?” Harry quickly matches his enthusiasm, shaking Louis around too, nodding his head. The gates open and it turns into a stampede of thousands of screaming, not completely sober people.

**August 29 // 1:25 AM**

They’ve been separated from Niall and Zayn pretty much the whole time and there’s a part of Louis that thinks he won’t see Niall until it’s time for them to leave. He knows Zayn’s probably lowkey getting high as fuck with some random stoners. And Louis is holding the camera, recording Harry trying to dodge people while taking sips from his cup of alcohol, both of his hands occupied.

One person brushes past him and he stumbles along with the cups, trying not to spill it. “Never drop the alcohol,” he sings drunkenly, waving his hands in the air carelessly.

Louis turns the camera to face him. “We’re going to see The Sherlocks because Harry is an indie loving piece of trash. I don’t know if he’ll remember it ‘cos he is currently very pissed. I mean, look at him.” The camera goes back to Harry, who has stacked the now empty cup under the filled one, and he’s dancing along to whatever music is going on in his head because it’s all very loud and hard to hear a specific artist playing. The blue flannel that he was wearing earlier is now tied around his waist, leaving him in his black tank top and exposing his tanned biceps, his necklaces jingle with every staggered step.

Once he gains all the equilibrium he can, he looks at Louis behind the camera and jerks his head in the direction of the stage. “C’mon, Loueh, we don’t got all day.”

So Louis follows after him without complaining. On the way there Harry stops in his tracks and bends over, getting ready to vomit, Louis presumes, but he only burps long and loud before he then spits to the side. When they get to the stage, they’re sucked into the vortex of people and the show starts simultaneously. Red lights flash up and the guitars sound in a long moan but then they die out, making it just the booming rhythm of the drums. There’s a vibe in the air that the camera doesn’t pick up but Harry seems affected by it, he chugs the rest of his alcohol sloppily and starts banging his head to the beat, Louis focusing the camera on his drunk boyfriend rather than the band in front of him. The men on the stage are wearing black long sleeves except the lead singer, who's sporting a leather jacket over a white t-shirt.

“You spend half your wage before you get paid on a brand new dress just for the escapade,” the frontman sings into the microphone and Harry shouts the lyrics right back at him.

Harry looks at the camera with a wild face, his tongue is sticking out and he’s wagging it around, shimmying his shoulders. “And you know-” he looks at the camera, shrugging his shoulders, “-I won’t let it go.” Louis has no idea what the hell Harry’s doing and he’s pretty sure Harry doesn’t even know what he’s doing, but he’s got his hands in the air and he’s clapping along with the rest of the crowd.

The lights turn purple and it gets significantly darker than before, the lead singer clapping his hands above his head for a moment, “Hello, we’re The Sherlocks and we’re here to give you a good time.” Harry cheers loudly beside Louis and bumps into him hard, knocking the camera out of his hand and on to the floor.

**August 29 // 2:19 PM**

When Harry wakes up, he's pretty sure he's still drunk since his head isn't pounding and his vision is a little blurry. He can’t really remember why he turned the camera on, staring into it blankly for a long few seconds before he blinks.

“Not sure what day it is,” he confesses, reaching to the side for his phone to check the date. “Oh, it’s tomorrow. Today. I don’t know. Think it’s Liam’s birthday. Louis,” he mutters, reaching out with his foot to nudge the lump beside him. Louis doesn’t react for a second but then he just groans loudly, squirming a little under the pile of blankets on top of him.

“I’m sleeping,” Louis argues, and Harry doesn’t doubt that he is, but right now it seems very urgent to him that he finds out if it is in fact Liam’s birthday today.

“I have to ask you a question,” Harry pushes, nudging Louis again with his foot. Louis makes the sort of shrieking sound he makes when he’s really bothered, finally poking his head out from under his cocoon. The camera can only see his very, very sleepy eyes and his messed up hair, and he looks quite angry at being woken up.

“Is today Liam’s birthday?” Harry asks, pointing the camera right at Louis while the boy blinks.

“Day is it?”

Harry checks his phone again, blinking at it until he can see the little white numbers clearly. “29th.”

Louis pauses for a second and thinks, and then nods. “Yeah. It is his birthday. Can I go back to sleep now?”

Harry thinks about it for a second and then nods, and Louis sighs in relief as he disappears back under his blankets. It’s only then that Harry realizes he wasn’t quite done with him yet, reaching out and kicking him a little too hard this time.

Louis yelps and then Harry’s on his back, Louis on top of him and pinning him to the ground. The camera gets dropped and lands on the floor of the tent a few inches away, capturing the scene.

“What the bloody fuck do you want now?” Louis hisses, his face only a hair away from Harry’s own. Harry guesses Louis isn’t still drunk, because he only gets this hostile when he’s very, very hungover.

“We should call him and sing to him,” Harry decides, unphased by the very small, very angry boy on top of him. Louis blinks at him and then rolls his eyes, climbing off of him and situating himself back under his blankets.

“I’ll text him in the morning,” he mutters, and Harry zooms in on the pile of blankets.

“It’s two in the afternoon.”

“Then I’ll text him in the bloody evening when I wake up, dickhead. Now leave me alone or I’ll literally bite your balls off.”

“Ouch,” Harry mutters to himself, turning the camera back around to face him. He shrugs and picks up his phone again, unlocking it and scrolling until he finds Liam’s name. He presses the phone up to his ear and waits, looking down at his lap.

The camera catches a tiny voice on the other end of the line and then Harry starts singing, loudly and drunkenly giving Liam probably the worst version of Happy Birthday he’s ever gotten. When he’s finished singing, Harry goes on to profess his undying brotherly love for Liam and wish him the most happiest of birthdays, only to discover that he’d been hung up on about fifteen seconds into the call.

“He hung up on me!” Harry screeches, outraged, staring at his phone in disbelief.

“I would,” Louis’ muffled voice says from the other side of the tent. Harry scoffs and then shakes his head at the camera, finally turning it off to maybe get a few more hours of sleep.

**August 31 // 4:19 PM**

Harry turns the camera on once they’ve all piled into the car, aiming it at himself and getting Louis in the shot, as well, where he’s resting his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“So I forgot to record the rest of the festival, which sucks,” he mutters, and Louis laughs softly on his shoulder. “But Louis got a lot of it on video on his phone, so we have that. I left the camera in the tent and no one reminded me to bring it,” he explains, sighing.

Louis just shrugs, which is a bit awkward in his position, and then goes back to resting. His eyes are closed and he’s a bit pale, the way he gets after a long few days with too much alcohol and not enough sleep. Harry feels mostly the same way; he’s been drunk since Friday night and he’s only slept a few hours each night. It’s worth it, though, because the festival was sick, and they all definitely want to go back next year.

“We’re headed home now so that we can all get a few hours sleep before we all have to work in the morning,” Harry says to the camera, and Louis makes a quiet noise of distaste on his shoulder.

“Not all of us. Some of us still haven’t been able to find jobs immediately after graduating uni, like the fucking rest of us,” he mumbles, lip curling in the way that means this is a sensitive topic for him.

“Lou, it’s been, like, two months. You’ll get a job at some point, I promise,” Harry says, kissing the top of his head.

“It’s been three months. Three, Harry. And I’m still working whatever shifts I can get at fucking Toys R Us,” he grumbles, and Harry looks at the camera like he doesn’t know what to say. “I’m working noon to close tomorrow, as well, so cheers to that.”

Harry presses his lips together and winces, imagining how much that probably sucks. Louis graduated top of his class with a law degree, and he’s still working nine hour shifts at a toy store.

“Sorry, babe,” Harry hums, wrapping his arm tight around Louis’ shoulders.

“What can you do,” Louis sighs, melting into Harry’s side and letting himself be held. Harry decides to stop the video there, shutting the camera off and letting Louis snooze on his shoulder the whole way home.

**September 8 // 10:57 AM**

Louis sweeps the camera over the guests inside the church quickly, letting it stop on his face as he smiles sadly. There’s a quiet sniffle beside him and Louis reaches over to wrap his arm around Harry, pulling him in for a cuddle and getting him in the shot as well.

“Today is grandma’s funeral,” Louis announces quietly, and Harry closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “And Harry wrote a beautiful little eulogy for her that he’s going to read during the service in a few minutes, and I think it’ll be important to get it on film.”

Harry nods, wrapping his arms around Louis’ middle and plastering himself to his side. The open casket wake was the day before and the same casket is now up on the altar of the church, closed now and waiting to be put in the ground. Harry knows exactly what his grandmother looks like in there, and it’s breaking his heart.

“Hey,” Louis hums, squeezing Harry’s shoulder when he can feel him starting to get upset again. “You’re okay. Everything’s okay,” he assures, and Harry nods again, letting Louis hold him until the service begins.

Louis makes sure to film everyone that speaks, getting teary behind the camera when Harry finally steps up. He’s dressed in his best suit, looking like the saddest sin, and he gives the church a shaky little smile while he unfolds the paper he wrote his eulogy on.

“You can tell by the amount of people here today just how loved and appreciated my grandma was by everyone around her. I won’t hesitate to say that she was one of my favorite people in the world, and will continue to be for the rest of my life. She was such an inspiration to me and I hope to carry on some part of her legacy in my life, because she deserves to not be forgotten.”

He goes on like that for a few short minutes, bringing the entire church to tears. The camera can hear even Louis getting sniffly, shifting around a bit as he wipes at his eyes. Harry gets a little choked up toward the end of his speech but he makes it through, and doesn’t let himself start to cry until he’s back in the pew beside Louis.

Louis holds him close for the rest of the service, shutting the camera off after a few minutes because it’s almost time to begin the drive to the cemetery, and he doesn’t think they need that on tape.

**September 8 // 6:19 PM**

Harry turns the camera back on when they’re getting back in the car, leaving the reception at his parent’s house. He hadn’t filmed during the get together, because he thought it might be a bit rude to be shoving a camera in people’s faces while they’re all trying to mourn the loss of a loved one.

Louis is driving them home and Harry is filming aimlessly out the window, just looking for something to do to distract himself because he’s still pretty sad, and the last thing he wants to do is think. He notices when Louis takes a wrong turn on the way home, though, leading them closer to town than their flat.

“Where are we going?” Harry asks, sitting up a little in his seat and pointing the camera over at Louis. Louis just shrugs, the lights from the different stores they’re passing lighting up his face.

“I really want a cheeseburger, those crab things your aunt made were gross,” he explains, and Harry just stares at him for a moment before he lets himself laugh.

“They were gross, I agree. But we’re in our best suits, don’t you think there’s something at home you could eat other than fast food?” He suggests, but it’s lighthearted, a small smile still on his face.

“God, no, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a cheeseburger more than I do right now. I think we should go in and eat there, too, in our very best suits. Just two guys on a really fancy date to McDonald’s, yeah?”

Louis’ eyes are sparkling, even the camera can see, and even though Harry still feels like he wants to lie down and cry forever, he honestly can’t resist Louis’ antics.

“Oh, why not,” he sighs eventually, and Louis cheers as he makes a rather aggressive turn into the parking lot. Harry grabs onto the handle by the door and clings for dear life until Louis has parked the car, taking the keys out of the ignition.

Harry leaves the camera on as they walk into the restaurant because it’s probably going to be a laugh, a small smile still on his face while people eye them curiously all around the restaurant. Louis takes care of both of their orders and even pays, and then finds them the best booth available. It’s only a few minutes before their number is called and Louis scampers off to get the food, bringing it back to the table.

Harry laughs softly when Louis picks up the one large milkshake he ordered, sticking two bendy straws into the cup and waggling his eyebrows at Harry. Harry just grins as he leans in to wrap his lips around one of the straws, Louis doing the same with the other. They both take a long sip and break away giggling, Harry shaking his head.

“This is like the worst date movie ever,” he chuckles, unwrapping his burger and taking a bite while he looks up at Louis with sparkling eyes.

“You’re smiling, though,” Louis says, and, well. It feels kind of monumental, because Harry hasn’t done much but cry and grieve since he got the news that his grandmother had finally passed, and it’s so telling that Louis is the one who is finally able to make him smile again.

“Yeah, I am,” he grins, and Louis smiles even wider at the sight. Louis looks genuinely thrilled to see Harry happy again and, like, Harry is still kinda sad, but right now he’s in his best suit dripping ketchup and grease all down the front of it in a booth in McDonald’s with the best boyfriend in the whole world, and, yeah, he wants to smile about it.

He leans across the table to kiss Louis’ greasy lips and Louis reaches out blindly for the camera, turning it off before it sees what the rest of the people in the restaurant are about to see.

**September 12 // 2:35 PM**

Harry starts the video with the camera pointed at the house, which almost looks like a house by now. The framework is entirely finished and the walls are starting to go up, people milling all over on ladders with drills and hammers and big pieces of sheetrock. The front of the house is mostly together on the first floor, with the exception of the big window and door holes all along it.

“So the walls are going up today,” Harry tells the camera, panning slowly over the house. “This is so cool, how it all comes together like this. It almost looks like the vision I have in my head now,” he says excitedly. He walks closer to the house and then steps right up into it, through what should be the front door.

“So this is going to be the living room and kitchen here,” he explains, his arm coming into the shot to sweep over the unfinished room. “And then over here will be a half bathroom, and then on the other side of the staircase is the dining room.” He walks into each room as he explains it, stepping carefully around the studs that are up where the walls will soon be. “I haven’t been upstairs yet because the floor isn’t down and I don’t trust myself walking on those beams, but up there will be two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small office for us to share. And then the basement, which doesn’t have stairs yet, is basically going to be one big entertainment space with a bar and a big tv and everything.”

He keeps walking aimlessly around the house while he talks, caught up in the fact that this is soon going to be his house, the one he will live for hopefully a long time in with Louis.

After a few more minutes one of the construction workers kicks him out because he’s doing nothing but getting in the way, apparently, so he goes back outside and pours over the blueprints for a little while more until the battery on the camera is about to die, so he turns it off.

**September 19 // 9:31 AM**

The camera turns on in a flurry of movement, Harry trying to focus it on Louis while Louis hurriedly sits down on the couch, ringing phone in his hands. Harry is squealing excitedly and Louis keeps shushing him, trying to get him to calm down so he can answer the phone in a professional manner.

“This is it, you’re getting the job,” Harry says quickly, and Louis shakes his head.

“No it’s not, don’t get my hopes up,” he hisses, ending the conversation with a finger to his lips as he accepts the call. “Hello, Louis Tomlinson,” he says, voice friendly and calm. He chews on his lips for a moment, staring down at the couch, answering a few yes and no questions. They’re both so on edge, the camera practically shaking in Harry’s hands.

“Yes, of course. Thank you so much, sir. I look forward to seeing you on Monday morning,” Louis finally says, his entire face lit up in a grin that he’s trying to conceal until he gets off the phone. “Yes. Okay, thank you again. Goodbye.”

He stays very calm until he’s pressed the end call button about fifty times, making sure it’s definitely hung up, before he lets out a scream. Harry screams as well and they both jump up, jumping wildly around the living room for a few moments.

“I got the job!” Louis shrieks, running at Harry and latching onto him with his arms around his neck. Harry hugs him back with one arm, holding the camera in the other, capturing the moment. “I start Monday, Harry, I’m gonna be a lawyer!”

“I’m so proud of you,” Harry mumbles, burying his face in Louis’ neck and squeezing him tight. “You’re gonna be the best lawyer, I swear,” he says, pulling away to look at Louis’ face.

Louis is positively glowing, vibrating in Harry’s arms. “I can finally quit Toys R Us. Shit, I can quit! I’m gonna go call them right now, oh my god, I’m gonna be a lawyer,” he rushes, stumbling over his words, mostly talking to himself. Harry laughs as he watches him go, scooping up his phone again and disappearing into the bedroom.

“Well that was an exciting addition to a nice Thursday morning couch cuddle,” he chuckles, turning the camera to look at their half eaten breakfast on the coffee table and the match making show they had been watching. Harry laughs again at the sheer happiness of the moment and then turns the camera off, already thinking up ways they can celebrate the news.

**September 19 // 5:43 PM**

The camera turns on when Harry opens Louis’ door, Louis stumbling out graciously, a shocked expression on his face. They’ve just arrived to one of the fanciest restaurants in London, Harry’s Volvo standing out against all the sleek black cars. Harry sticks out his hand for Louis to take and begins walking towards the entrance, Louis not saying anything until they get inside the foyer.

“Harry, how did you get a reservation so late?” He asks, looking around at all the candles and lights lining the walls.

Harry shrugs. “I have connections.”

Louis looks around before whispering harshly, “Bull-fucking-shit, you don’t know anyone that could-”

“Name?” Comes from the side, and Harry drops the camera down by his side before he gives his name, the man raising his eyebrow and smiling the slightest before telling them to follow him to their table. The camera gets set down by his napkin, getting Louis and the man’s waist in the shot, and then the man leaves, letting Louis and Harry sit in silence.

“All of this for me finally getting a job?” Louis questions, looking around.

Harry nods his head like it’s obvious. “Well, yeah.”

Louis opens his mouth to say something before the waiter comes around, introducing himself as James, setting menus in front of them and offering to get them a bottle of wine. Harry does all the talking since Louis’ a little dumbstruck, asking for the finest for his boy's special day and some fancy three course meal. When James comes back he’s accompanied by a server on wheels with a bucket filled with ice and a dark bottle of wine. He sets the glasses down on the table and pops open the bottle.

Louis takes a sip from his glass when James leaves, moaning at the taste. Once he’s almost finished with the alcohol, he points at the camera. “They let you in with that?”

Harry falters for a moment, setting his own glass down and fidgeting with the camera. “They’re nice people here.”

“Really? Because they all seem like French wannabe’s.”

Harry laughs, shaking his head. They go on talking about how rude French people are which somehow spirals into talking about the circumstances they met under, and how they were so young but clearly and utterly infatuated with each other. James comes back with their first course, the vegetables looking crisp and fresh, and Louis thanks him before he leaves them to eat.

They eat with quiet chats and banter and before they know it, James is back taking their plates and setting down the new ones with some meat decorated with sauce and more vegetables.

“I got on with you from the word ‘go’,” Harry reminisces.

Louis pokes at the vegetables and smiles. “Literally.”

Harry laughs while refilling his and Louis’ glass, “Yeah, literally. Don’t know why Niall set up a potato sack race in his backyard for the whole community, but I’m glad he did.”

“Me too,” Louis hums softly.

Harry can feel himself getting a little too excited now, worried that the words he's been saving for the end of their meal are going to come tumbling out too quickly. The thing is, he's actually had this dinner planned for weeks. He's known this was going to be a big day since he made the decision, and Louis finally getting a job is just icing on the cake. He bites his lip to keep himself in check, shoving some more delicious food into his face.

Once they’re done with the second course the third one comes around, and Harry starts counting himself down. There’s a piece of chocolate cake about the size of Louis’ head between them and the camera is sitting on the side of the table, recording Louis’ every move with Harry just barely in the other side of the shot. Louis picks up a fork and takes a bite of the cake, moaning loudly as he chews and swallows it.

“Good?” Harry chuckles, and Louis nods exaggeratedly. Harry reaches out to grab a fork but ends up grabbing Louis’ hand instead, holding it in his own.

“Louis,” he mutters, and Louis looks up at him, but he doesn’t stop eating. There’s a small box in the pocket of Harry’s suit jacket and it feels like it weighs a hundred pounds right now, threatening to drag him right to the ground. “Louis,” he says again, and Louis finally puts his fork down.

“Yes, Harry?” He asks sweetly, putting his free hand on top of Harry’s that holding his other. Harry’s other hand comes over to rest on top, making the nicest little sandwich.

“Lou,” Harry says again, and Louis’ eyebrows pull together in confusion. He looks like he’s going to say something, but Harry really doesn’t want them to get sidetracked right now, so he opens his mouth before Louis can. “I’m just. I’m really happy. All the time, like, you make me so, so happy. Even when I’m sad,” he stumbles, and Louis just smiles a little, a blush coloring his cheeks.

“You make me so happy, Louis, and you have since the day I met you,” he continues. He realizes that he needs to say more than that Louis makes him so stupidly happy, but he also can’t stress it enough. “I’ve known since we met that I wanted you forever, and even though we didn’t actually start dating until this year, I think I’ve always known you’re it for me. I have loved you since we were eighteen, Louis, I really have.” Louis looks like he’s either about to cry or burst into flames, his face bright red and his bottom lip caught between his teeth to suppress a smile.

“Me too. I’ve loved you since then too,” Louis says quietly, but he’s interrupting, and Harry can’t have that right now. This whole thing has been planned so strategically in his mind, and Louis will not fuck it up now. So Harry gets out of his chair and drops to his knee on the floor in front of Louis’ chair, and Louis looks like someone just pulled the chair right out from under him.

“Good. Then I think you’ll appreciate me asking you to let me love you for the rest of my life,” Harry says, reaching into his jacket pocket. A waiter comes over and picks up the camera from the table, getting a better angle that they will both appreciate later. Now they’re both in the shot and the camera can see how Louis’ hands are trembling where Harry is holding them in one hand, a little box in the other. “Louis, will you marry me?”

Louis sniffles and laughs, fiddling with his hair nervously while he looks down at Harry. “For real this time?” He asks quietly, and Harry remembers April Fool’s Day with a jolt.

“Yes, for real this time, you knob,” he laughs, and Louis laughs a bit louder than what is called for.

“Yes. Yeah, I’ll marry you,” he says, and the camera can’t see the way his eyes are shining, but it sees the way he doesn’t even let Harry get the ring on his finger before he’s hauling him up off the ground to kiss him hard. The rest of the dining room erupts in cheers and they’re both beaming when they pull away from the kiss, quietly taking their seats again. The waiter wordlessly puts the camera back down on the table where it was but neither of them even take notice, too busy staring at each other.

Harry asks for the cheque the next time their waiter comes over and they leave as soon as possible, turning the camera off on the way to the car so it doesn’t get broken in the shuffle when they can hardly keep their hands off of each other.

**September 19 // 9:32 PM**

Harry turns the camera back on when they get home, dropping it on top of the dresser in the bedroom and forgetting about it. Louis is already down to his boxers by the time he even makes it into the room, and Harry is right behind him.

They fall to the bed gracefully and writhe together for a few minutes, a tangle of indiscernible limbs in the dim lighting. All the camera can hear are Louis’ high, breathless whimpers and Harry’s deep, drawn out moans, and then Harry reaches for something and Louis flips them over.

The camera is in just the perfect position at the end of the bed to see Louis reach around and open himself up, fingers moving quick and sloppy. He’s straddling Harry’s hips and Harry is moving like he can’t help himself, hips twitching up every now and again until Louis is ready. Louis leans forward to roll the condom onto Harry’s cock and then he’s lifting himself up, hovering for a moment before letting himself drop back down.

They both let out the loudest noises yet and Louis stays put for about a minute, and then Harry’s leg kicks out in a way that seems involuntary and Louis really starts to move.

They fuck in long, desperate movements, hands constantly gripping at the other and moans bouncing around the room like they don’t have a neighbor in miles. It doesn’t take them long before they’re both slowing down, panting more than moaning, and Louis lays himself right down on Harry’s chest without even pulling off first.

They rest in peace for a little while before they wordlessly start in again for another round, picking up right where they left off. Louis’ noises are little more high pitched this time and Harry’s are a little more pained, but it clearly doesn’t stop them for going for a pretty rough second round.

The camera dies somewhere between their decision to take a quick shower and round three on the bed, leaving the rest of the night to play out without being a permanent memory.

**September 25 // 3:07 PM**

“So, Harry, where are we going?” Louis asks sweetly from behind the camera. Harry’s in a warm brown jacket, a green beanie tucking his wild hair away, and he glances at the camera before looking back at the road. They’re surrounded by dry farmland and yellow trees, a sure sign of autumn.

The camera catches Harry’s profile and the way his cheeks dimple when he smiles. “We’re going to an old place in Cheshire to tell everyone that we’re engaged.”

Louis hums excitedly and gives the camera a little shake and a view of the scenery around them before shutting it off.

**September 25 // 5;27 PM**

The little restaurant is filled with chatter from both sides of their families, Louis and Harry sitting beside each other. Harry holds Louis’ unwedded hand in his, his thumb calmly running over his knuckles while Louis’ other hand is buried in between his thighs, keeping the ring out of view from everyone. The camcorder rests at the end of the table, recording all the commotion on both sides. Harry leans over and whispers something in Louis’ ear and Louis nods, Harry letting go of his hand and taking a sip from his glass before standing up with it.

He clears his throat and says, “Excuse me, can I have your attention please?” Slowly but surely, the table gets quiet except little noises from the twins, everyone with their eyes on the tall boy in front of them. He smiles kindly at them, “Thank you all for coming. As you all know, well at least I think you all know, Louis has recently gotten a job at one of the best firms in London.” Everyone cheers at that, Louis blushing at the attention. “But that’s only one of the reasons why we’re here today. The other one- come on, Lou.” Harry turns to look at Louis, motioning him to join him. He wraps his arm around his tiny waist and brings him in closer. “The other reason is because the same night Louis found out about the new job, I asked him to marry me.”

There’s a collective gasp from the crowd, the applause instantaneous. It leaves Louis and Harry feeling like the kings they are, watching their mothers and friends and siblings go mad with admiration for the both of them. Louis and Harry practically radiate love and sprinkle a little of it on to everyone around them all the time, accidentally making everyone fall in love with their love. A true power couple.

Anne stands up and goes in to hug her son and future son-in-law at the same time, crying the slightest bit. “I’m so happy for the both of you.”

They thank her, and everyone else who congratulates them on the simple act of devotion Harry displayed the other night, basking in it all. When they sit down again everybody is still looking at them, and then the questions start being asked.

“Date?”

“Place?”

“Color scheme?”

“Wedding party?”

Louis speaks up for the first time since it all started. “We wanted to have it in December, which is a little close, but we’ve already started planning and looking at places. Most of the venus are willing to accept us even though it’s rather close. There’s no specific date yet, though.”

Harry stares at Louis fondly as he answers all the questions being tossed at them, and it goes on like that until some people start getting up and congratulating the newly engaged couple once more before leaving.

“About time, mate.” Niall comes up to Harry and claps his hand on his shoulder and pulls him in for a very manly hug, coming for Louis next. “Congratulations, though. Happy for you guys, really am.”

Louis thanks him with another hug and sends him on his way. Liam, Sophia and Zayn come to speak their happiness as well, and then they bid farewell and go their separate ways.

Once Louis and Harry get in the car when it’s all over they realize how loud all those people had been, their ears ringing quietly while they sit in the sudden silence.

“That went well,” Harry concludes happily.

Louis laughs and buckles his belt. “I thought so.” The camera rests in his lap, only getting half of Harry’s smiling face.

It’s the quietest it’s been for the past few days, Louis and Harry just staring at each other with stupid grins on their faces. “I love you.” Harry says like it’s the only thing he knows how to say, shaking his head.

Louis leans over the console to kiss Harry on the lips, “I love you, too.”

Harry leans back in his seat, starting the car wordlessly and driving off. The camcorder is shut down at the same time the wheels touch the open road.

**September 25 // 9:50 PM**

They’re in bed already, Louis reading a book with his glasses on, Harry holding the camera and watching him. They look quite domestic, Harry thinks; he could get used to having a quiet night like this after a day with friends and family.

Louis looks up at the camcorder over his glasses after a moment. “Why?”

“You look cute reading your book about the meaning of life.” Louis raises his eyebrows and shows the camera the book, Aristotle's _Nicomachean Ethics_. “Amazing,” Harry says from the side.

Louis giggles, putting the page marker in the book and taking off his glasses. He sets down the book with a quiet yawn, shaking his head after he closes his mouth and rubbing at his eyes, sinking down into the blankets.

He blinks up at Harry with wide eyes. “‘M tired, Harry.”

Harry makes a noise of acknowledgement, laying down to match Louis’ position. The camera sets in front of Harry’s neck, only recording Louis, his eyes moving back forth over Harry’s face, tiny hands balled into fists under his chin. His skin is lighter than it was in the summer, his freckles fading away and blending in on the bridge of his nose and cheeks.

“You’re so pretty,” Harry mumbles behind the camera. Blood flows steadily into Louis’ cheeks, strands of his hair flying around with the slightest breeze from the window while he shakes his head.

“Shut up,” he says pushing away the camera only for it to come right back, Harry refusing to end the video like that.

“Say it, Lou.”

Louis shakes his head like a child. “I won’t do it.”

“Say it.”

He sighs. “I’m pretty and my fiance is a dick.”

Harry cheers, but he realizes what Louis said just as Louis reaches over and shuts off the device.

**October 3 // 12:20 PM**

“Small or big?”

“Medium?”

“Okay. Color scheme?”

“Green, white and gold?”

“Pretty. Inside or outside?”

“Wedding outside and reception inside?”

“Can you say anything for certain?”

“I love you.”

Louis sighs, setting his pencil down. Harry’s camera sits at the edge of the bed recording their planning for the wedding; they’ve got a solid venu and that’s it. Harry can’t make up his mind about anything, leaving Louis with no progress in the decision.

“I love you, too, but you’re making this difficult, honey.”

Harry whines, “I don’t know what you want, so I’m leaving the options open.”

“You want to know what I want?” Louis asks, nodding when Harry nods. “Okay, I want a wedding with close friends and family, nothing too big or crowded. I could go with a sage, ivory and gold color scheme, and I think both the reception and wedding should be inside, but that’s just me.”

“I just want you to be happy with the wedding because I’m already happy enough.”

“Let’s not have a wedding then, Harry!” Louis says tossing the papers a bit.

Harry sighs exasperatedly. “That’s not what I’m saying, Louis.”

They both sit there in silence for a minute, waiting for someone to say something.

“This is stupid,” Louis concludes, looking at the pictures of suits for them and the boys.

“Maybe we should take a break?” Harry offers carefully.

Louis nods, breathing in deeply. “Okay.”

The break lasts two hours, and they finally got their minds settled, put their heads together and got most of the basic planning done. Both parts of the night are going to be inside and the colors are staying as they are and only people close to them are going to be invited.

Harry lays back on the bed. “I think I’ going to take a nap.”

“I’m with you on that,” Louis agrees grabbing the camera from where it’s been sitting on the end of the bed and turning it off.

**October 10 // 3:05 PM**

Harry’s back at the new house, and there are holes in the walls where the door and windows should be. His hard helmet is on and there’s people moving behind him with large windows in their hands.

“Just wanted to do a quick update on the house. The walls are up and everything is set! After we get the windows and doors placed in, we just have to paint and furnish the inside.”

All the trees outside are dying slowly, leaves scattering the ground like their last tears. Harry walks through the opening for the front door and into the house, showing the camera everything that’s happened. The walls are white and not decorated when he turns the corner, and he walks over the wood floor and goes deeper into the room and up the stairs.

“I can finally go upstairs without walking on beams!” he says, stomping his feet down on the solid wood. He turns to the left and goes down the corridor, pointing out which room is going to be the office and where the extra bathroom is going to be plus the two other bedrooms.

He goes into the bigger bedroom and shows it around. “This is gonna be mine and Louis’ room. There’s a walk-in closet over there and a bathroom kinda by it. This is gonna be great,” he sighs happily behind the camera. ”I hope Louis likes it.”

The camcorder turns to look at him and he’s got a smile on his face, four people walking around in the background with two doors and some tools around their waist.

“I’m gonna go help finish up the doors and windows-”

One of the workers holding the door cuts him off, “Today, please!”

Harry smiles and nods quickly, shutting off the camera.

**October 28 // 4:02 PM**

Harry sets down the camera carefully, getting both him and Louis in the shot with big orange pumpkins in front of them. Harry beams at the camera and Louis just shakes his head, looking at the pumpkin in front of him with skepticism.

“I’m making Louis carve pumpkins with me,” Harry tells the camera, handing Louis all the knives and other utensils that he’ll need and keeping one set for himself. “And I told him he can’t carve a dick because I wanna put them outside our door, so he’s not interested.”

“I feel that by this point in our relationship, Harry, you should realize that I’m not interested in many things unless there’s dicks involved,” Louis comments, but he picks up one of the knives on the table anyway and stabs it through the top of the pumpkin rather aggressively.

“Louis! You have to be gentle, or you’re going to crack it and it’s going to be useless,” Harry scolds, but he’s smiling over at Louis. Louis has to stand up to actually pull the knife out of the pumpkin, bicep straining with the effort.

“Oh, shut up, Harry. Don’t pretend that didn’t actually turn you on,” Louis snorts, sitting back down and sawing at the top of the pumpkin again.

Harry flushes and glances at the camera, before staring down at his pumpkin. “Okay, it kinda did.”

Louis laughs loudly, throwing his head back with the force of it and dropping his knife on the table. “You’re so weird,” he giggles when he calms down, leaning over and dropping his head on Harry’s shoulder while he hugs him.

Harry lets it happen for a moment, hugging him back, and then finally pushes him off and sits up. “Okay, c’mon, I still wanna carve pumpkins and you’re not getting out of it by being cute,” he says, sitting up tall and getting to work cutting the top of his pumpkin off.

“Dammit,” Louis sighs, rolling his eyes and picking up his knife again.

They work in silence for a little while, one of them occasionally singing a little tune that the other will pick up on and continue. In about a half hour they’re both doing the finishing touches on their pumpkins, and Harry is beaming while Louis just looks sweaty and frustrated.

“Mine is done,” Harry finally announces, sitting back against his chair and looking over his pumpkin one more time. He has the goop from inside the pumpkin all over himself and the table and the tarp spread out on the floor, but he’s clearly proud of his work.

“Fuck you, give me a second. I can’t get the fucking nose right,” Louis grumbles, chiseling away at his pumpkin still. Harry laughs, looking over at Louis’ work, which is facing away from the camera, like his own.

“I thought you didn’t even want to do this in the first place?” He teases, eyes sparkling as he looks at Louis.

“I fucking didn’t, but I don’t do things halfway, Styles,” Louis huffs, pulling away and looking at his pumpkin before groaning and going back in.

“You don’t?” Harry snorts, because that statement is clearly false, but Louis looks affronted.

“Name one thing,” he challenges, and Harry raises his eyebrows.

“Well, just yesterday, you-”

Louis blushes and slaps a slimy hand over Harry’s mouth, glaring at him.

“I told you not to mention that ever again,” he growls quietly, while Harry squeals and wiggles away from his gross fingers. He just laughs once he’s finally free and Louis rolls his eyes, getting back to his pumpkin for another moment. He drops the knife to the table with a clatter when he’s finally done, slumping back in his chair.

“Okay,” Harry chirps happily, grabbing a towel off the floor and wiping his hands. “Let’s have a look.” He picks up the camcorder and shows his own pumpkin first, which is an elaborate, yet somehow still amateur looking cut out of a witch riding a broom. “Very festive, quite original, I’m very proud. Let’s see Louis’, now,” he hums, panning over to Louis’ pumpkin.

It’s a tribute to your typical jack-o-lantern, but it looks like it was done by a three year old and the nose hole is about three times the size of the eye holes. “Very… you,” Harry says slowly, yelping when Louis punches his arm.

“You’re such a dick,” Louis complains, pouting at the camera when Harry aims it at him.

“I’m sorry, it’s very good. A lot of effort,” Harry amends, and Louis just sighs.

“Go on, then, get the candles and we’ll put them outside the door just like you wanted,” he mutters, waving at Harry and accepting the camera while Harry runs off to get the candles to put inside the pumpkins.

Louis starts digging around in the bowl of slop they dug out from the pumpkins, collecting the seeds in the center of the table until Harry comes back.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks, catching Louis elbow deep in a spaghetti pot of pumpkin guts, apparently rummaging for treasure.

“You just put me through that whole thing, now you’re going to make me pumpkin seeds for a snack,” Louis informs him, and Harry just chuckles. They put the candles in the pumpkins together and carry them out to the hallway, leaving them on either side of their door and lighting the candle wicks. When they go back in, they spend a few minutes collecting the rest of the pumpkin seeds, and then Louis goes to shower while Harry gets to work flavoring and baking them.

Harry turns the camera off after the seeds go into the oven, figuring it doesn’t need to see them both consume their body weight in pumpkin seeds when Louis returns.

**October 31 // 7:18 PM**

Harry turns on the camera as he walks into the bedroom, where Louis is just finishing getting dressed in his costume. Harry had insisted that they dress up before the party just for a laugh; costumes weren’t necessary, but they were encouraged. ‘Hario and Louigi’ was punny enough to have Harry in stitches for close to an hour, and as much as the costume makes Louis want to throw himself out of the nearest window, the look of unadulterated joy in Harry’s eyes when he sees him in it is enough to make him wear it.

“You look so cute,” Harry coos as he enters the room, getting a shot of Louis in the green costume. Louis has just gotten done sticking the big felt mustache to his upper lip when he turns to glare at Harry, sweeping his hand down his body.

“Is this what you wanted?” Louis asks, voice the slightest bit muffled by the mustache. Harry walks closer and points the camera at the mirror so that they’re both in shot, Harry in a red version of the outfit Louis is wearing.

“It is,” Harry confirms, dropping a kiss to Louis’ head over his little green hat. “Everyone is going to get a kick out of this, I promise. And if not, I packed us both an extra outfit so we can change,” he hums. Louis sighs in relief at that, happy that he won’t have to spend the whole night in this stupid costume, and then Harry leads him out of the bedroom.

“Now c’mon, Niall’s party started twenty minutes ago and I told him we’d be there to help welcome guests, so we’ve got to get a move on.”

“I can’t believe we’re about to get in a taxi looking like this,” Louis whines, but he follows Harry out of the apartment and then out to the street. They find the waiting taxi and climb in, riding the short distance to Niall’s place with a somewhat awkward silence with the driver.

There aren’t too many people at the party once they get there, but most of them are wearing costumes, which is reassuring. Louis gets a drink before he does anything else and Harry rolls his eyes, deciding to turn the camera off for now and let the party play out.

**October 31 // 11:48 PM**

Louis starts the video with a shot of Harry, who is half out of his costume and holding a conversation with a mostly dead plant in the corner of Niall’s living room. Louis is just giggling quietly behind the camera, the loud and upbeat music becoming background noise.

“Harry is absolutely sloshed,” Louis comments, zooming in on his fiance. Louis sounds a bit drunk himself but clearly not as much as Harry, who is fingering the leaves on the plant and talking to it like it can hear him.

As Louis moves closer Harry’s words become mostly distinguishable, and it seems Harry is talking about him. Louis giggles again and Harry finally looks up, grinning at the sight of him.

“Louis! Louigi! Where’d your costume go?” He asked, the happiness falling from his face when he sees that Louis is in the extra outfit Harry had packed him and not his green Luigi onesie.

“I took it off, it’s too hot in here. Looks like you’ve started,” he chuckles, referring to the way Harry’s costume is unzipped and is currently hanging around his waist, leaving his torso bare, and his hat is sideways on his head.

“Oh, yeah,” Harry hums, looking down at himself. “It is a bit hot. Do you think there are more drinks?” He asks absently, scratching at his stomach and looking over Louis’ shoulder toward the kitchen.

“I think you’ve had enough drinks, and it’s hardly midnight,” Louis laughs, reaching out to bring Harry in with an arm around his waist. “I think we’re getting too old for this stuff, Haz, look at you. Maybe we should head out?”

“No,” Harry whines, clawing at Louis’ chest and looking at him pleadingly. “A little longer, this is so much fun! Don’t be an old fart,” he complains.

Louis raises his eyebrows at that, pulling away from Harry to look at him fully. “An old fart? Oh, I’ll show you old fart,” he scoffs, narrowing his eyes at Harry before diving in to start biting at his neck.

Harry lets out something between a yelp and a moan and grabs at Louis to haul him in closer, the camera getting shut off somewhere in the scuffle.

**November 4 // 2:03 PM**

The camera is resting on the little bench in the corner of the fitting room, which Harry and Louis are sharing to try on tuxes for the wedding. They’ve both tried on more things than they can count and they’ve still got a lot more to go, but they both want to look perfect.

They decided to forgo the whole ‘you can’t see your spouse until the wedding thing’ in the interest of making sure they both like what the other is wearing, because, in Harry’s own words, Louis might “show up in your damn pajamas, I can honestly say that I don’t trust that you to not do that.” So they’re trying on things together, yaying and naying certain things for each other, and so far it’s going pretty well.

They’ve decided that they both want black tuxes, but one of them is going to wear a white shirt underneath while the other is going to wear a black shirt. They don’t want their tuxedos to match but they don’t want them to be completely different, either, which caused the poor girl picking things out for them a fair bit of stress until she found some things that might do.

“How about this?” Louis asks, the camera catching him from behind as he turns around to inspect his backside in the mirror. Harry glances over at him and then bites down on his lip, which is definitely not the indifferent, uninterested expression he’s shown to every tux Louis has tried on before this.

“God,” Harry breathes, looking Louis up and down over and over like he can’t get enough. “Yes. That one. Fuck, I want to marry the hell out of you wearing that exact tux,” he decides, stepping closer to reach out and drag Louis close. Louis giggles softly as Harry leans in and kisses him, letting it happen for a few minutes before he pulls away and looks in the mirror again.

The tux is tight, perfectly fitted around his arse and his waist. It would have to be hemmed in the sleeves and the bottoms of the trousers and it could do with a little less space in the chest area, but other than those few minor alterations, Louis literally looks like a million bucks.

“Good, so I’ll go with this one then. Finally. You keep on, though, I haven’t seen one I loved,” he hums, sitting down gingerly beside the camera on the little bench and looking up to watch Harry keep trying on tuxedos.

It’s about ten minutes and four suits later that Louis finally gasps, mouth literally watering as he looks up at Harry again.

The tux isn’t exactly black, more of a dark charcoal, but it looks incredible with a black shirt underneath. It shows off exactly how long and lean Harry’s body is, highlighting his broad shoulders and his narrow hips and his long, long legs. Louis finds himself staring with his mouth open, looking at Harry’s perky little bum in the tight trousers.

“You like this one?” Harry chuckles, looking at Louis’ awed expression. Louis just nods, still staring at Harry’s body.

“Yeah, that one. That- get that one,” he nods quickly, finally dragging his eyes up to Harry’s face and nodding again.

Harry laughs, turning around to look at himself in the mirror again. “Yeah, I guess I like this one too. C’mere, stand next to me, let’s see how we look together in them.”

Louis stands up and walks over beside Harry, bringing the camera with him as they both stand in front of the mirror. Harry slides his hand around Louis’ waist and tugs him into his side, smirking at the sight of them together.

Louis’ suit looks extra black beside Harry’s dark gray, making his white shirt stand out brilliantly. Harry looks like he just stepped out of a magazine, all dark colors and pale skin and bright, bright eyes. Louis just nods again, speechless, and Harry smiles before he presses a long kiss to the side of Louis’ head.

“This is what we’re going to look like on our wedding day,” Louis hums, sounding slightly like he’s in disbelief. Harry just grins, looking at the camera’s reflection in the mirror.

“It sure is,” he mumbles, turning his body and leaning down to kiss Louis’ lips, reaching for the camera and turning it off before they get any further.

**November 16 // 12:39 PM**

Harry turns the camera on and pans slowly around the room, letting it take in all the workers scattered about, painting various surfaces. The walls are being painted a light, warm off white and the woodwork around the trim of the doorways and the baseboards is being painted a clean, dark color. There are big tarps down on the floor to protect the beautiful dark hardwood from any spillage, which would be just about the worst thing that could happen right now.

“So this is the main room of the house,” Harry explains, showing the camera everything. “This will be the kitchen area, and over there will be the living room. There’s cardboard over the fireplace right now but that looks beautiful, too, and I can’t wait for Louis to see it.”

He walks through a doorway into another room, which is being painted a formal shade of gray. “Here’s the dining room, which we’ll probably only use for when we have fancy parties and whatnot. The table is gonna be black painted wood, so it’ll go really well with this color on the walls. We’ve already purchased all of the furniture, which will be arriving in the next few days to weeks. We’re gonna be getting rid of most of the things from the apartment, even the bed, which is comfy, but too small for our new bedroom. I’m planning to get most of the moving done before the wedding, but I’ve asked our families and some of our friends to help finishing up with the moving and the tossing of everything while we’re on our honeymoon, because when we come back we’ll be coming home to here.”

He’s walked out of the dining room and up the stairs while he was talking, ending up in the master bedroom. It’s being painted a beautiful pale green color, which catches the light brilliantly and makes the room feel a lot more warm and cosy. “Here’s our bedroom, and the bathroom, which isn’t painted yet. The other bedroom is just going to be white until we get around to needing it, and other than that, the house is about done,” he says proudly, turning the camera around and beaming at it.

He has paint streaked across the side of his face and all down his shirt, like he’s been working hard and helping everybody out all day. There’s not much left for him to do now, because the painters kicked him out after he stepped in one of the paint trays, so it’s probably about time for him to head back home to wait for Louis to get home from work as well.

Louis has been working a lot now that he finally has a real job, and Harry misses him pretty much all the time, but Louis is so happy even just being the new guy that goes on coffee runs and occasionally gets to help out with a case, Harry can’t bring himself to hold it against him. He turns the camera off once he realizes he’s been lost in his own thoughts for a few minutes, giving a sheepish smile before the video ends.

**November 22 // 11:16 AM**

Harry is stretched out on the couch in the living room, the camera resting on his chest and pointing up at his face from a rather unflattering angle. He’s bored and Louis had been thumping around in their bedroom for about ten minutes now, looking for god knows what.

“Harry,” Louis finally calls, and Harry hears his soft little footsteps come into the living room. “Do you have any idea where all my old comics are?”

Harry freezes up a little, because he knows exactly where Louis’ old comics are. He knows Louis treasures them but he hardly ever goes looking for them, so it’s just his luck that Harry would have taken the box of them with the other few little things he brought to the new house yesterday.

“Uh,” he says eloquently, looking up at Louis. “No?”

Louis raises one eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest suspiciously. The camera can almost hear Harry chanting _shit shit shit_ in his head. “You don’t sound so sure.”

Harry sits up then, putting the camera down on the coffee table and shrugging his shoulders at Louis. “Did you check the closet?”

“Yes I checked the bloody closet,” Louis scoffs, taking a few steps so he’s right in front of Harry. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know!” Harry cries defensively, but it’s probably a little too defensive, because Louis only looks more suspicious and a little hurt.

“Harry, I swear to god, just tell me what you did with them. You know how much I love those things, if you fucking-”

“Hey, hey,” Harry stops him, standing up from the couch and taking Louis by the shoulders. “I know how much you love them, I really do. And I promise I didn’t do anything to them. You probably just moved the box somewhere and you don’t remember, but I’m sure they’re around,” he assures, rubbing Louis’ arms gently.

Louis blinks and then softens, looking down. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Sorry,” he says, looking up at Harry from under his messy hair.

“That’s okay,” Harry says, pulling Louis down onto the couch with him when he sits back down. He feels a little guilty that Louis is obviously so upset about his missing comics, but he hasn’t needed them in months, so Harry thought it wouldn’t be a huge deal if he moved them into the new house a little early.

“What did you need them for, anyway?” He asks, letting Louis cuddle into his side with his head on Harry’s chest.

“Just wanted a look,” Louis shrugs, wrapping his arms around Harry’s middle and squeezing a little.

Harry nods slowly, thinking about exactly where the box is hidden in one of the closets in the master bedroom of the new house. They’re getting married soon enough, December 1st, and then going on honeymoon for almost the rest of the month, so Louis will be distracted enough that he probably won’t think about the comics again for a while, but Harry still feels kinda bad.

The comics weren’t the only thing he took, though; he also brought a small amount of the books from their bookshelf, and some of the random things they don’t use everyday in the kitchen, and a lot of the other stuff buried in their closets. He had hoped Louis wouldn’t miss any of it until they moved, but this is making him worry a little about the rest of it.

He reaches forward and grabs the camera off the table after a moment of quiet, pressing the button to turn it off and then turning on the tv.

**November 30 // 8:09 PM**

The camera turns on just in time to get an obscene close up of Niall’s face before he pulls it back, grinning widely at it. His hair’s a mess and there’s loud music in the background, but when he speaks he can be heard clearly.

“So, today is the last day before the Larriage,” he announces, giggling at his own joke. “Louis and Harry’s wedding, that is. So, as is customary, we’ve thrown them both horrible bachelor parties!”

He moves the camera away from his face and pans around the room, zooming in on where Louis is sitting at the bar with a few other guys, looking happy and a little drunk. “So we’re at Louis’ party now, and we’ll be stopping in at Harry’s later on. This one is probably a bit more tame, because Louis is an old man, and Harry’s is gonna be wild just to make him as uncomfortable as possible.”

He walks over to the bar then, letting the camera get a shot of the floor while he orders himself a drink. When the camera comes back up he’s walking over to Louis, setting the camera down on the bar to get them both in the shot.

“Lou! Are ya havin’ a good time?” Niall asks brightly, and Louis grins.

“I am, Nialler! I’m so- I’m a little drunk,” he hums, focusing his hazy eyes on the camera.

“That’s good, lad, it’s about 8pm,” Niall teases, clapping a hand to Louis’ back and straightening up. They all know how nervous Louis is for the wedding, so none of them are stopping him from drinking until he’s sick all over himself, though they probably should. Harry is probably no better at the other party, though, so it’ll be fine.

Niall walks away after a few minutes, leaving Louis alone with the camera. Louis puts his drink down and picks up the camcorder, holding it close to his face.

“I’m getting married tomorrow,” he sings, giggling softly and then moving the camera so it’s a few inches away from his face instead of close enough to see every little hair in his beard individually. “I’m a little scared, to be honest, but I think it’ll be fun. I really really love Harry,” he says, smiling dreamily at the thought of his soon-to-be-husband. “Harry. He’s so pretty, and nice. I wish he was here right now. Probably won’t see him again until tomorrow morning,” he pouts, sighing and putting the camera back down on the bar.

Someone comes along and grabs him to come and do shots and Louis goes easily, grabbing the camera as he gets up and shutting it off.

**November 30 // 10:31 PM**

The camera is shaking when the video starts, but when it finally stills and focuses, the scene is very different than it was last time. Instead of a small pub with loud but bearable music playing, Niall is making his way through a large, sweaty crowd in a big, thumping nightclub.

“So we’re here at Harry’s party now,” Niall tells the camera from behind it, the shot going out of focus again as he continues shoving his way to the back of the club. There are girls in cages in every corner of the room and more girls in barely any clothes making their way around, dancing on anybody and everybody that looks at them. They all have money sticking out of their color coordinated panties, and when Niall finally spots Harry in one of the booths in the back of the club, he sees that one of the strippers is making his way over to him.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Niall laughs, hanging back and filming the scene as it unfolds. Harry doesn’t notice the girl coming until she sits right down in his lap, and the look on his face is so shocked and embarrassed that Niall can’t even hold the camera steady, he’s laughing so hard.

The stripper starts dancing on Harry, swinging her hair around so it hits him in the face a few times, Niall laughing harder as Harry splutters and wipes it out of his mouth. The girl keeps rolling her hips and touching Harry’s chest until someone finally takes pity on Harry, who is almost purple in the face and looks like he’s going to cry. Nick Grimshaw, who is sitting in the booth beside him, reaches over and sticks a note into the stripper’s getup. She grins and leans over Harry, sticking her boobs right in his face, to kiss Nick’s cheek, and then she’s up and on her way.

Harry is flustered and embarrassed and can’t stop fiddling with his hair now that the stripper is gone, everyone around him busting a gut over his reaction. Niall walks over and slides into the booth on the opposite side from Harry, laughing when Harry groans at the sight of the camera.

“Don’t tell me you got that all on tape,” he whines, and Niall just laughs again and nods behind the camera. Harry sighs and picks up the full shot glass in front of him, tipping it back and then reaching for Nick’s as well. He makes a face once they’re both down and then reaches over to Niall, snatching the camera out of his hands and turning it off.

**December 1 // 5:41 AM**

Harry flips on the camera, laying on a bed that’s not his with his fingers in his hair and his eyebrows knitted together. Niall pegged him as the one to party the night before the wedding but after the stripper incident, Harry didn’t want to be in another situation like that again and be trashed for it. He’s staying over at Liam’s place for the night and his tux hangs from the back of the door, taunting him in some way. He rubs his hand over his face and wets his lips.

“I’m getting married today,” he chokes out, laughing quietly and shaking his head. “I’m gonna marry my best friend,” he whispers.

He shakes his head again, like it’s unbelievable that he just so happens to be the luckiest man on earth. It’s an overwhelming feeling of love and he just can’t wrap his head around it. To be loved and to be in love, he supposes.

“I’m so nervous, I haven’t been able to sleep at all because my stomach was jumping,” he flashes over to the clock beside his head blinking 5:53. “I’m gonna try to catch a bit of sleep and not overthink the rest of the day. So, this is goodbye for now.” He smiles and shuts off the camera.

**December 1 // 11:06 AM**

“Not much later,” Harry chuckles opening the camera up and getting settled into the passengers seat with Liam beside him, pulling out of the driveway. All of their stuff is in the backseat, carefully placed, of course, the shoes on the floor and the suits hung from the handle above the door.

“We’re on our way to the venue to get our hair and stuff did,” Liam says turning to the right.

“Yeah, what Liam said.”

They sit in silence for a while, the radio playing some soft jazz because suddenly Liam is in to that kind of music, Harry recording the passing world outside of the car. “I miss Louis, Liam.”

Liam laughs softly. “You’ll see him later when you’re both looking good and ready to get married.” Harry whines in the back of his throat and bounces his leg, shaking the vision of the camera. “How’re you feeling about that, by the way?”

Harry blows air from his nose and shrugs. “Nervous as hell, to be quite honest.”

The quietness hangs for a bit, the only sound is the tires crunching over the snow and slush on the road.

“That’s normal. I’m pretty sure Louis’ probably crying about the same thing with Niall as we speak.”

Harry rolls his eyes because that’s highly unlikely, Louis’ a Capricorn, he handles everything cooly.

**December 1 // 12:17 PM**

Louis’ phone sits on the table recording his surroundings while Harry does his own. Niall is currently making tea while Louis gets his hair blow dried by Harry’s sister, all of them dressed casually in sweatpants and sweaters, the breeze creeping inside and giving him goosebumps.

“How’re you feeling, Lou?” Gemma asks running a comb through his hair softly.

“Like I want to cry,” Louis laughs nonchalantly.

Niall comes to sit by him on the stool, sipping his tea tiredly. “I mean, you’ve planned everything to the last hair on my head, so it’s all good.”

Louis nods and lets out a long, slow breath, sitting as still as he’s capable of while Gemma finishes fixing up his hair. He watches her fingers move in the mirror and tries his best not to chew on his bottom lip, because he knows that if he does he’ll chew a hole through it and he doesn’t want his and Harry’s first kiss as spouses to be gross because Louis’ mouth tastes like iron.

 _Spouses_. God, in like, two hours Harry is going to be his spouse, his husband. He feels a new wave of anxiety hit him and Gemma flicks the back of his neck, making him jump and look up at her reflection.

“I can feel you preparing for a breakdown. Get it together, Lou. Everything’s gonna be fine; Harry loves you just as much as you love him, and once the wedding is over you two get to run off to some island together and fuck like bunnies for three weeks straight. Ew,” she breathes the last word, shaking her head like she’s trying to rid herself of the image. Louis laughs at that, the grin staying on his face long after she’s done the finishing touches on his hair.

“Right. Well, I’m off to help Harry get ready now, try not to fuck up your hair while I’m gone,” Gemma calls, excusing herself from the room and making her way down the hall to Harry’s room. Louis just keeps sitting in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection, waiting for something to happen.

That something turns out to be Niall, coming over and clapping a hand down on his shoulder. “C’mon, then, get your tux on. The wedding is set to start in about ten minutes, and they can’t very well carry on without you there, can they?”

Louis shakes his head and takes a deep breath, standing up from his stool and making his way behind the curtain hanging in the corner of the room, finding his tux neatly hung up behind it. He strips out of his sweatpants and carefully dresses himself in the suit, which has had all its alterations done and looks nothing short of breathtaking on him now.

He emerges from behind the curtain and goes to stand in front of the mirror again, straightening his tie and jacket. The place they’re getting married in looks like a castle, complete with a big ballroom and a stage where they’ll say their vows. Even these little prep rooms are gorgeous and intricate, and Louis will never be able to thank their families enough for making this happen for them. Once he’s sure he looks as good as he possibly can he walks over to grab his phone, smiling into the camera lense.

“Here we go, then,” he breathes, giving the camera a thumbs up before tapping the button to end the video.

**December 1 // 1:34 PM**

“Oh, it’s starting,” comes Anne’s voice from behind the camera, the music starting softly in the big, open space. Harry is already standing up on the stage with Niall, Zayn and Liam, hands clasped together in front of his stomach tightly to disguise how they’re shaking. He’s grinning but he looks anxious, looking up to watch the procession of people come down the aisle.

Anne turns around when everyone else does, making sure to film it all steadily. Gemma comes down the aisle first with a bouquet of white flowers in her hands, a smile on her face and the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She’s looking up at Harry on the stage and, as Anne pans over to Harry, Harry is looking back with the kind of smile he used to have when they were kids and they were about to pull off something very, very naughty.

Lottie, Fizzy, Ernest and Doris come next, all of them in similar dresses to Gemma’s and with matching bouquets of flowers, except Ernest, who is in a tiny little tuxedo. They make it to the front row of seats and round the corner, all of them sitting down in the chairs they were told to go to during the rehearsal.

Next down the aisle are Daisy and Phoebe, one of them throwing handfuls of flower petals down behind her while the other one carries a small pillow with two rings on. When they get to their chairs they sit down gracefully, grinning at each other like they’re very proud of themselves.

The music changes a bit then and Anne stands up with everyone else, pointing the camera down to the back of the aisle. A second later Louis and Jay walk out, arm in arm, both of them grinning widely as they walk slowly toward the stage. They had decided that Louis would walk down the aisle since Harry was the one that proposed, and Harry couldn’t have all the fun. Jay walks Louis right up onto the stage and kisses his cheek before she goes to sit down with her gaggle of children and Gemma, leaving Louis to step up and take Harry’s hands.

Anne zooms in on them when they look at each other, Harry’s face still full of awe and Louis’ eyes full of tears. Anne keeps the camera steady on them while she sits back down, waiting for the vows to start. The officiant talks for a few minutes but no one really listens, caught up in the way Louis and Harry are caught up in each other. Finally they get to the good bit, and everyone holds their breath for a moment.

“Louis, do you take Harry to be your wedded husband to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him so long as you both shall live?”

Louis sniffles a little and then laughs, looking down at his feet before he looks back up into Harry’s eyes with all the sincerity in the world. “I do.”

“And Harry, do you take Louis to be your wedded husband to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him so long as you both shall live?”

Harry doesn’t even waver, his smile growing slightly bigger as he stares into Louis’ eyes. “I do.”

Everyone cheers softly and the officiant beckons Phoebe up to the stage, and with her she brings the rings. Louis reaches down to take one and holds it up to Harry, taking his left hand in his own. “With this ring, I thee wed,” he giggles softly, because he’s so, so happy, and he can’t help but laugh about it. He slides the ring onto Harry’s finger and smiles at it for a moment, before dropping Harry’s hand so Harry can reach for the other ring.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Harry repeats, winking at Louis and then reaching for his hand to slide the ring on his finger.

The officiant grins and opens his mouth to let them know that they are now pronounced husband and husband and all that, but before he can even get the words out Louis is reaching up to drag Harry down and kiss him hard. Everyone cheers and the officiant just shrugs, taking a step back while Harry wraps his arms around Louis’ waist and pulls him in close.

It’s like they’re in their own little bubble until they break away from the kiss, looking vaguely surprised to see that they are still surrounded by people. Louis laughs and grabs Harry’s hand, jumping down off the stage and running off down the aisle with Harry close in tow.

“My baby just got married,” Anne whimpers behind the camera, filming for a few more minutes as everyone starts picking up and preparing to leave for the reception. She turns the camera off before she reaches down for her coat, stuffing it into her pocket to return to the boys at the reception.

December 1 // 3:49 PM

Anne has the camera pointed at the glass doors, silhouettes very visible standing behind it and the lights pointing in that direction.

Gemma’s standing at the end of the table where the wedding party is going to sit with a microphone in her hand. She taps it once before she starts talking. “Hello, and thank you for joining us on this fine December day. Before I start talking too much, it’s my absolute pleasure and honour to introduce to you the newlyweds, Harry and Louis Tomlinson!”

Both sides of the family cheer when the door swings open, Harry and Louis’ hands knotted together. They come strutting down the stairs looking flawless and glowing, beaming smiles on their faces as they walk over to the long table with an ivory sheet covering it. Harry pulls out the chair for Louis, which makes the smaller man put his hand on his chest dramatically and say something that no one can hear over the faint music and family. Harry sits next to him with a grin on his face, eyes scanning the crowd of familiar faces, and rests his hand on Louis’ thigh gently.

“And now for the rest of the wedding party,” Gemma says and continues to read off the rest of the names. Niall sits next to Harry, and Liam and Zayn take the chairs on the other side next to Louis, all of them getting comfortable while some people snap pictures. After Gemma thanks the flower girls and everyone for coming, she assure them that the food will be out in moments, people then turning to chat amongst themselves.

Anne gets up with the camera and goes over to the table with her son and son-in-law cuddling together, dropping off the device with a little speech about how she’s so happy for the both of them. Harry takes the camera with a heartwarming smile and a thank you and turns the camera to get the view of Louis and him.

“So, we just got married,” Harry says holding up their hands to show off the shiny rings.

Louis shakes his head, smiling adoringly. “I’m sure Anne got the whole thing on tape, honey.” Harry grins and kisses Louis’ hand and lets them fall back down together. “How are you feeling, Haz?”

“Was nervous up until the part where I saw you walking down the aisle,” Harry laughs. “I’m good now, though because I didn’t mess up and I love you and we’re married.”

Louis leans up to place a kiss on Harry’s cheek and Niall wolf-whistles, which wakes the crowd and they’re suddenly chanting _‘kiss, kiss, kiss’_ and Louis’ got red creeping up his cheeks and Harry’s got that shit eating grin on his face that Louis secretly loves.

Louis rolls his eyes fondly. “Kiss me you fool.”

Harry sets down the camera and caresses Louis’ jaw, bringing him in for a gentle kiss, Louis’ hands coming to rest under Harry’s jacket. The families cheer and holler for them and they both just smile against each other's lips, breaking away from the kiss only seconds later.

Harry reaches out to turn the camera off as Louis cuddles into his side, keeping his arms tucked inside Harry's jacket and smiling at the lense before it clicks off.

**December 1 // 8:03 PM**

Liam has the camera now, standing off to the side of the dancefloor as the music quiets. The DJ turns on her microphone and there’s a quiet squeak before she starts talking, making everyone cringe a little.

“Ladies and gentleman, it is my honor to introduce to you, for their first dance, the newlyweds, Harry and Louis Tomlinson!”

Everyone cheers and then Harry and Louis step out from the crowd, Harry holding out his hand to take Louis’. Louis grins up at him and then Harry pulls him close, curling his arms around his waist while Louis’ hands move up to Harry’s broad shoulders. They’ve practiced this so many times; they even took a class for it, and for the past two weeks or so Harry has moved the furniture in the living room almost every day so that they could have room to practice. Those rehearsals usually ended in hour long make out sessions on the couch pushed up against the wall, but it still helped to build up their confidence for this moment.

The song starts and they begin to sway, everyone around them cooing softly as they watch. Louis closes his eyes and puts his head down on Harry’s chest, smiling to himself and letting Harry lead him in slow, small circles around the floor to the slow beat of _Thinking Out Loud_.

Harry dips his head to sing the words of their wedding song softly in Louis’ ear and Louis’ smile grows, making his arms tighten around Harry’s neck and his fingers curl into fists in the back of Harry’s jacket. The camcorder in Liam’s hand captures all of that, but it doesn’t capture the way Louis’ heart is fluttering in his chest, or how soft and sultry Harry’s voice sounds in his ear. Louis leans back to look at Harry’s face, he’s saying something that makes Harry cackle loudly and he giggles to himself afterwards. Harry moves his mouth closer to Louis’ ear, and he could be saying something absolutely filthy or pouring his heart out but either way it has Louis ducking his head down into Harry’s neck.

They don’t stop dancing when the song ends, lost in their own little world as everyone crowds back onto the dancefloor and another song starts playing. It’s not a slow song and their movements don’t match the tempo at all but they either don’t notice or they don’t care, because they both just keep moving slowly in a crowd of people dancing to the upbeat song.

Liam turns the camera around to himself and Niall, both of them miming puking at the camera. “You guys are fuckin’ gross!” Niall laughs at the lense, sticking his tongue out before sauntering away to go dance. Liam laughs softly but shakes his head, staying off to the side of the dance floor to keep filming for a moment.

“You really are, but you deserve to be. I’m so happy that you guys are happy, and I hope that never changes. Congratulations, lads, here’s to a long, happy marriage.” He holds his drink up like he’s toasting the notion and then he tips it back, leaving the empty glass on the table nearest to him and turning the camera off so he can go and dance with everyone else.

**December 2 // 9:12 AM**

“We’ve escaped the cold of England,” Louis says when the camera turns on, scratching at his bare chest and gazing at something behind the camera. “We’re in the- Jesus, the Canary Islands, is it, Harry?” Harry makes a sound of approval from somewhere close by and Louis shrugs, turning back to the camera. “The Canary Islands. We’ll be here until the day before my birthday, so it’s a good thing we’ve got such a beautiful room with such a beautiful view,” he hums, turning the camera around to show what he was looking at earlier.

They’re out on the balcony of their room overlooking a huge beach, the blue waves crashing softly below them. “We only got here very, very early this morning and we’ve been napping since, but I’m hoping we can go explore the beach later. It’s supposed to be private, not too many people around, so who knows what we’ll get up to?” He waggles his eyebrows at the camera as he turns it back around, and Harry squawks from somewhere beside him.

“We’re not having sex on the beach,” he says decidedly, coming into the shot to flick the side of Louis’ head. He is shirtless as well, and as he walks back into the bedroom, the camera catches sight of his bare peach arse too.

“We’ll see about that,” Louis mutters to the camera, winking at it and then laughing softly at himself. He goes back inside with Harry but leaves the door to the balcony open, letting in the warm breeze. He flops down on the bed with the camera still in his hand, steadying it just in time to capture Harry crawling up on top of him.

“Can I help you?” Louis hums, grinning up at Harry, his husband. “Mr. Tomlinson?”

Harry moans at that, leaning down to bite at Louis’ neck. Louis whimpers softly at the sting, making Harry lick over it to soothe it in some way and then move up to whisper in Louis’ ear, quietly enough that the camera can’t hear.

It’s clear what he said, though, because the camera sees the way Louis’ eyes widen and then fall shut, a soft groan escaping his lips. “Yeah, baby, get me the lube,” he breathes, and Harry gets up to scurry over to their suitcase while Louis presses the button to end the video.

**December 24 // 8:17 AM**

Louis looks exhausted when the camera turns on, head leaned against the window as the world goes by. They’re in the back of a cab on the way home from the airport, after having flown all night to get home. Louis gets too nervous on planes to get any sleep, though he would never admit that, and Harry had stayed up with him the whole flight just so he wouldn’t feel lonely. So they’re both tired and a lot more tan than the last time they were on camera, but all Harry can think about is the way his heart is jumping around in his chest.

Louis is tired enough that he doesn’t even notice they’re going the wrong way home, just staring blankly out the window, trying to keep himself awake. He doesn’t even blink until they pull into an unfamiliar driveway, and then he perks up.

“Oh, um, sir,” he starts to say the driver, leaning forward to slide open the partition. “We’re actually at the wr-”

“Louis, no,” Harry says, taking hold of his arm gently and pulling him back. “This is where I told him to drop us off, it’s fine,” he assures, ignoring the puzzled look in Louis’ eyes. He thanks and pays the driver and then climbs out of the car to get their bags from the bag, hauling Louis’ over his shoulder and then picking up his own.

It’s freezing outside, snow falling slowly around them, and Louis shivers bodily when he finally gets out of the car. “Harry, whose house is this?” Louis asks, but he doesn’t push when Harry doesn’t answer, just following him blindly up to the front door.

“It’s ours,” Harry finally says when they get there, pushing open the door to let Louis inside. He had asked his mother to come over earlier and turn on the heat, so it’s nice and warm inside when they finally get all the way in. There’s a big banner hung in the entryway that reads ‘Welcome Home’ and the house is quiet and peaceful, but when Harry turns the camera to look at Louis again, he still just looks confused.

“What do you mean ‘ours?’” He asks, standing dumbly in the doorway with his coat still all buttoned up and his shoes making little puddles under his feet. Harry chuckles and makes him step over a few inches so he’ll be standing on the mat, not wanting to ruin their brand new floor.

“This is the house I’ve been working on the past few months. I designed it for my final project, remember? And then when I got my job, I started building it. And now we get to live in it, together,” he explains, heart still hammering away in his chest. He hadn’t really expected that Louis wouldn’t understand what was going on, but as realization finally dawns in Louis’ eyes, Harry starts to calm down.

“Oh, my god,” Louis breathes, finally looking away from Harry and glancing around the room. “Oh my god. This is our house, you built this,” he mutters, finally kicking off his shoes and slowly unbuttoning his coat. “Oh my god, Harry. Harry!” He finally squeals, bouncing with excitement as he looks back at his husband.

Harry laughs and sets the camera down on the table just inside the door, before turning back and opening his arms to Louis. Louis runs at him and hugs him tightly, nearly knocking him over. They stay like that for a few moments, Louis mumbling incoherently into Harry’s chest and Harry grinning widely and holding him so, so close.

“Show me around, then,” Louis says when he finally pulls back, and now it’s Harry’s turn to bounce around excitedly.

“Okay, okay, c’mon,” he says, grabbing the camera in one hand and Louis’ hand with the other. He keeps the camera trained on Louis’ face as he leads him into the kitchen, showing him where everything is and how the appliances work. Louis looks so overwhelmed but so unbelievably happy, clearly glad to be out of their cramped little apartment.

“And so this is the living room,” Harry explains, leading Louis over to the new couch and the big tv on the wall. “Pretty self explanatory, I hope you like the furniture?” He asks hopefully, and Louis just nods, reaching out to wrap his arms around Harry’s middle while he keeps staring at everything.

“Yeah, it’s perfect. I love it all,” he mumbles, keeping his arms around Harry and slowing them down considerably Harry turns around to lead them into the dining room. Louis still seems entranced by it all as Harry finally leads him down to the basement, showing him the extra living space there.

“We have a finished basement!” Louis squeals, finally releasing Harry and bouncing around in a circle around the large space. “Oh my god, we can have parties. Take me upstairs, I wanna see the rest,” he nearly shouts, excitement finally bubbling over after his emotional quiet phase has ended. He’s clearly not so tired anymore, taking off ahead of Harry and racing up the stairs.

Harry laughs and chases after him, meeting him at the top of the second flight of stairs. Louis waits for him and then sets off down one end of the hallway, opening the door to the guest room. “Oh, very bright,” he comments, because this was the room that never actually got painted, but the decorators made it work very nicely. “Guest room, I’m assuming?” He asks, grinning when Harry nods.

Louis darts out of the room after taking another look around and Harry laughs, following after him quickly. Louis checks out the main bathroom for the second floor and then continues on down the hall, until he reaches the master bedroom.

He walks in slowly, taking a long look around and smiling to himself. Harry made sure to perfect the design for this room, making sure that Louis would love it, and the smile on Louis’ face tells Harry he succeeded.

“I can’t believe you did all of this,” Louis breathes, walking to the center of the spacious bedroom and then turning around to look at Harry. “This is so, so cool, and I love you very much,” he says, walking back over to Harry and hugging him again. “I’m really glad I married you,” he hums, burying his face in Harry’s shirt, and Harry laughs brightly.

“I’m glad you married me too,” he says, hugging Louis back with one arm and filming them with the other. “Happy birthday,” he whispers, squeezing Louis tight while Louis just grins into his chest. He gives the camera a thumbs up behind Louis’ back and then shuts it off, because Louis’ excitement is starting to wear off into exhaustion again and Harry wants to get him to bed before he gets cranky.

**December 25 // 11:06 AM**

Harry turns the camera on while they’re still in bed, cuddled up under the sheets on the first morning in their new house. Louis is still half asleep, somehow, even after sleeping most of the day yesterday, and even though it happens to be Christmas morning.

“Louis,” Harry whispers, shaking his shoulder gently and pointing the camera at his face. “Lou, wake up.”

Louis just makes a quiet noise and groans, peeking one eye open to look up at Harry. “What?”

“I just realized,” Harry whispers, scrunching his face up guiltily. “I planned everything down to the last detail, except one thing,” he waits for Louis to react, but just keeps talking when he doesn’t, “I forgot a Christmas tree.”

Louis opens his eyes fully at that, rolling over and looking up at Harry’s face.

“We don’t have a tree?” He asks, but he doesn’t sound upset, more like he’s trying to hold back laughter. “That’s okay, Haz. We don’t need one,” he assures, but Harry obviously still feels a little bad.

“I also, um, I didn’t really get you a present, because, like. Well, I kind of spent all my money building this house, and um,” he trails off, cowering before Louis like Louis might actually have the nerve to be angry at him.

“Harry,” Louis laughs, reaching up to put his hand over Harry’s cheek. Harry lets his face relax and Louis kisses his lips, smiling at him. “I don’t need a present. I have you, and I have this house with you, and I have the rest of my life with you. I don’t need something to unwrap, and I don’t need a tree for it to sit under. I just need you, and I have you,” he assures, and as cheesy as it is, Harry seems to buy it.

“Okay, good. I was going to suggest the plastic ficus in the living room with some lights on it, but if you insist we don’t need a tree,” he sighs, and Louis just laughs before he kisses him again. They make out like that for a little while before Louis pulls away again, just as Harry is about to shut off the camera.

“But, um, I did get you something,” he says, and Harry groans. He loves getting presents, sure, but he hates that he doesn’t have anything to give to Louis in return right this moment. Louis jumps out of bed and goes to his suitcase, which has found it’s way to the corner of the bedroom, and then comes back to sit cross-legged at the foot of the bed. “It’s not nearly as grand as what you got me, obviously, but I thought it was fun. I brought it with me to make sure you wouldn’t find it or it wouldn’t get lost or anything, which, good thing I did,” he chuckles, looking down at the small box in his hands for a moment before handing it over to Harry.

Harry takes the box as he sits up, handing the camera to Louis in return. Louis turns the camera around and films as Harry opens up the gift, tearing the paper to reveal a cardboard box. He opens the lid of the box slowly and peers inside, a smile growing on his face when he sees what’s inside. He pulls it out of the box slowly, holding it up in the light and letting the camera see.

On a skinny silver chain hangs a small metal pendant in the shape of a paper airplane, and Louis smiles behind the camera as Harry holds it close to his own face to inspect it.

“I saw it in the shops while we were down in Africa. I just thought it was cute, and it made me think of you for some reason. And I figured, you know, since we’re both broke kids right out of uni that this wasn’t going to be a big Christmas, though clearly I was wrong,” Louis chuckles, and Harry just looks up at him and grins.

“I love it. Will you put it on me?” He asks hopefully, handing Louis the necklace and then turning around. Louis hands him the camera and then drapes the chain over his chest, latching it behind his neck and looking at the pendant when Harry turns back around. The airplane falls just below Harry’s collarbones and it looks lovely, definitely something Louis can’t wait to play with when they inevitably fuck later.

“Merry Christmas,” Louis hums, scooting closer to Harry and fitting himself into the larger boy’s arms. Harry holds him close automatically, kissing the top of his head.

“Merry Christmas,” he hums in return, turning the camera away from them so he can reach the power button and shut it off.

**December 31 // 10:19 PM**

The first thing that comes up in the shot is Louis at the dining table drinking champagne from a fancy glass surrounded by Sophia and some other people laughing at something someone said.

“Louis looks like a rich housewife,” Harry giggles from behind the camera, walking over to him and the others. He immediately catches Louis’ attention, Louis standing up to meet him halfway and pecking his lips.

“What’s up, hun?” Louis asks, glancing at the camera but keeping his eyes on Harry. The lights hanging up around the walls illuminate his face with whites, blues and golds, making him look nothing short of angelic, his eyelashes casting shadows on his cheekbones and his blue eyes even more prominent.

“Um,” Harry stutters, totally forgetting what he was about to say.

Louis laughs brightly, tiny hand resting on Harry’s chest, “Good party, you think?”

That jogs Harry’s memory. “Oh, yeah! Do you think they like it?”

“Well, yeah,” he says looking around at their family and friends spread out across the house laughing and enjoying the snacks Harry laid out after he kindly cooked a roast for the lot of them.

“Quite the hosts, we are,” Harry grins.

Louis smiles and kisses him again, patting his chest. “You wanna come and have a drink with us?”

Harry glances at his watch and nods at Louis with pursed lips. Louis bounces cutely and scampers back into the dining room to sit at his seat again.

“This should be fun,” Harry says sarcastically and smiles widely, shutting off the camera.

**December 31 // 11:57 PM**

The camera sits on the table recording the event on television, some of the the musical guests and random clips from London getting ready for midnight. All the people in the house are decked out in cheap decorations and glasses with annoying noise makers. The only one who is using it is Niall who may or may not be drunk, it’s hard to tell anymore. The camcorder gets snatched up from somewhere to show Zayn’s smiling face.

“The whole celebration is about to go off and you guys are already making out in the corner so,” He grimaces, raising his glass to the camera. “Cheers.”

Niall comes to take the camera next with a glass in his hand. “This year was action packed, let me tell you that! It seems like you guys just started dating yesterday, what the hell is that about? You’re married now with jobs and all that domestic goodness so, that’s cool! But, just because you’ve actually got your lives together doesn’t mean that we’re not gonna chill and be friends and shit. So, uh, I love you guys so here’s to an amazing year and hopefully another one coming your way!”

Zayn takes it back with the same smile on his face, this time, Harry and Louis beside him this time and Liam tucked under his other arm. The whole crew is together in the shot as the people around them begin counting down from ten. There’s a sensation in their stomachs that feels like this could be the end of their friendship, but that’s overpowered by the bond they’ve shared for so many years; Louis and Harry being married isn’t going to ruin that now.

_7, 6, 5..._

Niall gets that smile on his face when he looks at his friends, Louis’ pressed into Harry’s chest, shouting the numbers with them. Harry looks completely blissed out with his eyes closed and mouth open, Zayn looking at Liam adoringly.

_4, 3, 2..._

It feels like they’re counting down to the end of the world or maybe the beginning of something great.

_1!_

The party explodes when the clock finally strikes midnight, Harry and Louis reconnecting by the lips and the other three boys just cheering loudly with the rest of the crowd. They’re still the same, though, still the exact same five boys, in the exact same situation, and it’s been a year since everything changed but it’ll be a lifetime before anything ruins them.

The camera clicks off once Harry and Louis break apart, all five of them grinning at each other like they’re in on the biggest, greatest secret before it all goes dark, another year behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading comments/kudos are welcome and appreciated !! :)


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